咖哩店如何被捲入日本的移民管制行動（1/2）

Recently The New York Times reported the following:

How Curry Shops Got Caught in Japan’s Immigration Crackdown (1/2)

Under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, new visa rules are forcing some foreign business owners, who have put down roots in Japan, to leave.

The NYT - By Javier C. Hernández and Kiuko Notoya - Reporting from Shimotsuke, Japan

May 30, 2026

Updated 8:36 a.m. ET

For three years, Mahendra Dharmapriya, a Sri Lankan restaurateur, filled the streets of his neighborhood in rural Japan with the smells of his homeland: creamy lentils, fish curry, egg hoppers and black tea with ginger.

But on a recent Saturday, Mr. Dharmapriya cooked the last meal at Daiya Ceylon, his Sri Lankan curry shop in the Japanese town of Shimotsuke, about 66 miles north of Tokyo, and shut its doors. He was forced to close the restaurant because he could not satisfy new visa rules meant to restrict the flow of foreigners into Japan. He plans to return to Sri Lanka this week.

“I felt so alone,” Mr. Dharmapriya, 40, who moved to Japan in 2015, said in a recent interview at his restaurant, where he was handing out unopened bags of spices and cassava chips to friends. “I have no hope for the future right now.”

Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, won office last year on a promise to more strictly regulate immigration and tourism. Now her government is trying to deliver, scrutinizing the roughly 47,000 foreigners like Mr. Dharmapriya who live in the country on so-called business manager visas.

Japan has long been cautious about immigration; foreigners make up only about 3 percent of the population. Some experts argue that Japan needs to allow more immigrants to deal with labor shortages and offset its rapidly declining population. But a wave of nationalist sentiment has swept the country recently, with some activists calling for even stricter controls as part of a “Japan First” movement.

Conservatives say that foreigners are exploiting Japan’s visa rules to stay in the country indefinitely. The government has responded by making it harder to obtain business manager visas, requiring applicants to have $188,000 in capital, up from $31,000 previously, and to employ at least one full-time staff member.

The change has left many foreign restaurant owners in limbo. For decades, workers from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries have relied on business manager visas, setting up small restaurants in Japanese cities and rural areas that serve curry, fried rice, noodles and other favorites.

Chan Ka Yee, who managed a branch of San Mai San, a Hong Kong-style congee chain, in Tokyo, closed her restaurant last week after more than five years because she said she could not meet the new visa requirements. She plans to return to Hong Kong this summer.

On her final day, customers brought flowers and snapped photos of Ms. Chan as she made pork congee, waffles and milk tea. She thanked them and waved goodbye.

The next morning, she wrote on social media, “My eyes are incredibly swollen from crying so much last night.”

“I can’t believe it’s over,” she said. “I wanted to stay there forever.”

Chie Taniguchi, 50, a regular at Ms. Chan’s restaurant, called the new visa requirements “sloppy politics.”

“Now it will become impossible for Japanese people to discover new flavors and food cultures,” she said.

(to be continued)

Translation

咖哩店如何被捲入日本的移民管制行動（1/2）

在首相高市早苗的領導下，新的簽證規則迫使一些在日本紮根的外國經營企業的人離開

三年來，斯里蘭卡餐廳老闆Mahendra Dharmapriya 將家鄉的香氣瀰漫在日本鄉村的街道上：奶油扁豆、魚咖哩、雞蛋餅和薑茶。

但就在不久前的一個週六，Dharmapriya先生在他位於日本下野市（東京以北約66英里）的斯里蘭卡咖哩店“Daiya Ceylon”烹製了最後一餐，然後關上了店門。由於無法滿足旨在限制外國人入境日本的新簽證規定，他被迫關閉了餐廳。他計劃本週返回斯里蘭卡。

40歲的Dharmapriya先生說: 「我感到非常孤獨」; 「我現在對未來沒有任何希望」。他於2015年移居日本。最近，他在自己的餐廳接受採訪時，正將未開封的香料和木薯脆片分發給朋友們。

日本首相高市早苗去年上任時承諾將更嚴格地監管移民和旅遊業。如今，她的政府正努力兌現承諾，對像Dharmapriya先生這樣持所謂「商務經理簽證」在日本居住的約4.7萬名外國人進行嚴格審查。

日本長期以來對移民問題持謹慎態度；外國人僅佔日本人口的3%左右。一些專家認為，日本需要允許更多移民入境，以應對勞動力短缺和人口快速下降的問題。但近來，一股民族主義情緒席捲日本，一些活動人士呼籲加強管控，並發起「日本優先」運動。

保守派人士稱，外國人正在利用日本的簽證政策無限期地留在日本。政府的回應是提高了商務經理簽證的申請門檻，要求申請人擁有18.8萬美元的註冊資本（先前為3.1萬美元），並且至少僱用一名全職員工。

這項變化令許多外國餐館老闆陷入困境。幾十年來，來自印度、尼泊爾、斯里蘭卡、中國、越南、泰國等國的務工人員一直依靠商務經理簽證在日本的城市和鄉村地區開設小餐館，供應咖哩、炒飯、麵條和其他美食。

Chan Ka Yee在東京經營一家港式粥品連鎖店「三米三」（San Mai San）的分店，上週，由於無法滿足新的簽證要求，她在經營五年多後關閉了這家餐廳。她計劃今年夏天返回香港。

在她工作的最後一天，顧客們帶著鮮花，拍下了陳女士製作豬肉粥、華夫餅和奶茶的照片。她向顧客道謝並揮手道別。

第二天早上，她在社交媒體上寫道：“昨晚哭得太厲害，眼睛十分腫。”

她說:“真不敢相信一切都結束了”，“我真想永遠留在那裡。”

50歲的Chie Taniguchi是陳女士餐廳的常客，她稱新的簽證要求是「糟糕的政治操作」。

她說:「現在日本人將很難發現新的口味和飲食文化了」。

（待續）

豬肉價格暴跌揭示中國經濟的哪些問題（2/2）

Recently The New York Times reported the following:

What Plunging Pork Prices Say About China’s Economy (2/2)

A key measure of inflation in China, they hit a 16-year low, driven by anemic consumer spending and an oversupply of hogs.

The NYT - By Catie Edmondson - Reporting from Seoul - Li You contributed research.

May 28, 2026, 12:00 a.m. ET

(continue)

Dabeinong, another pork giant, sold more pork this year than last year but still reported a decline in profitability, citing “market conditions and fluctuations in hog prices.”

The downturn is a stark reversal from the soaring prices after the 2019 swine fever epidemic. In an attempt to lower prices and promote agricultural self-reliance — a priority championed by China’s leader, Xi Jinping — the government encouraged the construction of massive, multistory pig farms.

But now, farmers find themselves with too many hogs and not enough demand in a country that consumes half of the world’s pork.

In China, the meat is a staple in everyday meals and in dishes served at celebratory events or fancy dinners. Because it is so frequently consumed, pork is especially susceptible to the weaknesses of an economy gripped by stubborn youth unemployment, a shaky property market and a strained pension system.

Diners at restaurants have been spending less money per meal than just a few years ago, according to Canyin88, a Chinese website that collects data on the restaurant industry. Even the lavish banquets and business dinners once held by government officials have been reined in. Some local governments have barred civil servants from dining in groups of more than three, after several reports of excessive drinking at official banquets.

In a symbolic effort to reassure markets, Beijing has repeatedly bought meat for its national strategic pork reserve, an emergency government-run stockpile stored in warehouses across the country. In 2019, when pork prices skyrocketed, the government tapped those reserves to help ease grocery costs.

Beijing has also prodded local governments to buy more pork, because prices have fallen beyond the “warning zone for excessive price drops.”

And last month, during a pair of high-level meetings, including one led by Mr. Xi, officials stressed the importance of addressing “the profound shifts currently taking place in the supply-demand dynamics” of the pork industry.

The authorities have already urged farmers to reduce the pork entering the market by culling breeding sows. Regulators have also set stricter weight standards for each hog, effectively limiting the volume of meat available for sale. At the same time, the government has scaled back the subsidized loans it once offered to large-scale pig farms seeking to expand.

Those efforts, Ms. Liu said, could help stabilize prices. But without a stronger recovery in consumer demand, she didn’t expect them to rebound significantly.

“There is little to do from the demand side,” Ms. Liu said of further government interventions. “You cannot order other enterprises to purchase more pork.”

Translation

豬肉價格暴跌揭示中國經濟的哪些問題（2/2）

作為衡量中國通膨的關鍵指標，豬肉價格跌至16年來的最低點，主要原因是消費支出疲軟和生豬供應過剩

（繼續）

另一家豬肉巨頭Dabeinong今年的豬肉銷量高於去年，但盈利能力仍然下降，該公司將原因歸咎於“市場狀況和生豬價格波動”。

此次價格下跌與2019年非洲豬瘟疫情後豬肉價格飆漲形成了鮮明對比。為了降低價格並促進農業自給自足 - 這是中國領導人習近平倡議的優先事項 - 政府鼓勵建造大型多層養豬場。

但如今，在這個豬肉消費量佔全球一半的國家，養殖戶們卻面臨生豬過剩而需求不足的困境。

在中國，豬肉是日常飲食的必需品，也是慶祝活動或盛大晚宴上常見的菜餚。由於消費如此頻繁，豬肉尤其容易受到經濟疲軟的影響，而中國經濟正飽受青年失業率居高不下、房地產市場動盪以及養老金體系捉襟見肘等問題的困擾。

根據收集餐飲業數據的中國網站「食音88」顯示，如今顧客在餐廳用餐的平均消費額比幾年前有所下降。就連政府官員曾經舉辦的奢華宴會和商務晚宴也受到了限制。此前，一些地方政府在官方宴會上多次出現過度飲酒的報道後，禁止公務員三人以上聚餐。

為了象徵地安撫市場，北京方面多次增購豬肉，充實其國家戰略豬肉儲備 - 這是政府運營的緊急儲備物資，儲存在全國各地的倉庫中。 2019年，豬肉價格飆升，政府動用那些儲備以緩解食品價格上漲的壓力。

由於豬肉價格已跌破“價格暴跌預警區”，北京方面也敦促地方政府增加豬肉採購量。

上個月，在包括習近平主席主持的一次會議在內的兩場高級別會議上，官員們強調了應對豬肉行業「當前供需動態的深刻變化」的重要性。

相關部門已敦促養殖戶透過淘汰繁殖母豬來減少進入市場的豬肉數量。監管機構也制定了更嚴格的生豬稱重量標準，有效限制了可供銷售的豬肉數量。同時，政府也縮減了先前向尋求擴張的大型豬場提供的補貼貸款。

Liu女士表示，這些措施可能有助於穩定價格。但如果沒有更強勁的消費需求復甦，她預計價格不會出現顯著反彈。

Liu女士在談到政府進一步幹預時表示： “從需求方面來說，能做的並不多。你不能命令其他企業購買更多豬肉。”

              So, China’s pork price decrease is more than an agricultural problem, the decline is an ominous sign for the economy. The pork industry is just another casualty of China’s economic slowdown. The property market slump is one of the reasons that is dragging down spending. Apparent, China’s economic slowdown will continue for quite a while.

豬肉價格暴跌揭示中國經濟的哪些問題（1/2）

Recently The New York Times reported the following:

What Plunging Pork Prices Say About China’s Economy (1/2)

A key measure of inflation in China, they hit a 16-year low, driven by anemic consumer spending and an oversupply of hogs.

The NYT - By Catie Edmondson - Reporting from Seoul -  Li You contributed research.

May 28, 2026, 12:00 a.m. ET

Sun Haoyu, a hog farmer in Dalian, in northern China’s Liaoning Province, first noticed pork prices beginning to tumble late last year.

With 3,000 hogs to care for, Mr. Sun said, he had “no choice but to tough it out,” relying entirely on loans and borrowed money to keep his operation afloat. But prices kept plummeting, and last month they hit a 16-year low. Now, across his region, many small farms are on the brink of collapse.

“Many hog farmers can no longer hold out,” Mr. Sun said in an interview. “After all that backbreaking work raising hogs, we can barely afford the feed anymore.”

China’s plunging pork prices are more than an agricultural problem. In a country where the commodity is treated as a bellwether of inflation, the decline is an ominous sign for the economy.

Not long ago, pork prices were soaring after an epidemic of swine fever devastated the nation’s hogs. That prompted Beijing to ramp up production, creating a glut just as Chinese consumers were looking to save rather than spend.

The pork industry is another casualty of China’s economic slowdown. The property market is in a yearslong slump, dragging down spending, including at restaurants, a big driver of pork sales. Construction activity has also weakened, reducing demand for pork, long a staple for workers on building sites, according to a report from Nomura, the Japanese bank.

“The construction site workers and then dining out are the two cohorts that we see have a higher pork consumption,” Hannah Liu, a China economist at Nomura, said in an interview. “When we see a collapse from these two cohorts, we definitely see demand crater.”

China has endured years of deflation across much of the economy, and pork prices are down 39 percent over the last four years, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics. That deflationary trend began to reverse only in recent months, when rising energy costs from the war in Iran pushed up prices.

While the government has sought to boost major pork producers, offering them heavily subsidized bank loans and credit to expand, smaller farmers like Mr. Sun have received far less assistance.

Even with government support, the industry’s biggest players are struggling. Wens Foodstuff Group, one of China’s biggest hog producers, saw profits fall 43 percent last year. The company said prices for its pigs in April fell about 38 percent from a year earlier.

(to be continued)

Translation

豬肉價格暴跌揭示中國經濟的哪些問題（1/2）

作為衡量中國通漲的關鍵指標，豬肉價格跌至16年來的最低點，主要原因是消費支出疲軟和生豬供應過剩

來自中國北部遼寧省大連市的養豬戶Sun Haoyu，去年年底首次注意到豬肉價格開始暴跌。

Sun先生說，他要養3,000頭生豬， “別無選擇，只能咬牙堅持” ，完全依靠貸款和借來的錢來維持生計。但價格持續下跌，上個月跌至16年來的最低點。現在，在他所在的地區，許多小型養豬場都瀕臨倒閉。

Sun先生在接受採訪時說: “很多養豬戶已經撐不下去了” ， “養豬這麼辛苦，我們現在連飼料都快買不起了。”

中國豬肉價格暴跌不只是農業問題。在這個將豬肉價格視為通貨膨脹風向標的國家，豬肉價格的下跌對經濟來說是一個不祥之兆。

不久前，一場非洲豬瘟疫情重創了中國的生豬養殖業，導致豬肉價格飆升。這促使北京方面加大產量，造成了豬肉過剩，而此時中國消費者正傾向儲蓄而非消費。

豬肉產業是中國經濟放緩的另一個受害者。房地產市場持續低迷多年，拖累了包括餐飲在內的消費支出，而餐飲業是豬肉銷售的重要驅動力。根據日本野村證券的報告顯示，建築活動也已減弱，導致對豬肉的需求下降，而豬肉長期以來一直是建築工地工人的主要食物來源。

野村證券中國經濟學家Hannah Liu在接受採訪時表示：“建築工地工人和外出就餐者是豬肉消費量較高的兩個群體。一旦這兩個群體的消費量下降，我們確實看到需求大幅下降。”

中國經濟多年來一直處於通貨緊縮狀態，根據中國國家統計局數據顯示，過去四年豬肉價格下跌了39%。直到最近幾個月，隨著伊朗戰爭導致能源成本上漲，豬肉價格才開始回升，通貨趨勢才有逆轉。

儘管政府一直致力於扶持大型豬肉生產商，為其提供高額補貼的銀行貸款和信貸以擴大生產規模，但像Sun先生這樣的小農戶得到的幫助卻少得多。

即使有政府的支持，產業巨頭們也舉步維艱。中國最大的生豬生產商之一Wens食品集團去年的利潤下降了43%。該公司表示，4月生豬價格比去年下跌了約38%。

（待續）

Totally Farmed Eels to Begin Online Trial Sales Tomorrow

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

Totally farmed eels to begin online trial sales (Source: NHK)

完全養殖ウナギ あすからオンラインで試験販売開始

2026年5月28日16:19

水産業

流通大手のイオンは、卵からふ化させて育てたいわゆる「完全養殖」のウナギを29日から試験的に販売すると発表しました。完全養殖のウナギを一般向けに販売するのは初めてだということで、安定供給につながるかが注目されます。

イオンは28日九州地方の水産会社が完全養殖で育てた500尾あまりのウナギを、29日からオンラインで試験的に販売すると発表しました。

価格は1尾あたり5000円ほどで、完全養殖のウナギの販売は、世界で初めてだとしています。

国内で流通するウナギは、ほとんどが海や川で捕獲された天然の稚魚を育てて養殖したもので、国や企業が人工的に育てたウナギが産んだ卵をふ化させる完全養殖の技術開発を進めています。

水産庁の試算では、1尾あたりの生産コストは10年前の2016年度の20分の1程度にあたる1800円あまりに下がったものの、依然、通常の養殖に比べて3倍以上高いことが課題になっています。

イオンの土谷美津子副社長は「将来的に完全養殖のウナギが普通になることが重要だ。本格的な販売ができるよう取り組み、時代に合った買いやすい価格で提供できるようになればいいと思う」と話していました。

ウナギの完全養殖をめぐってはこのほかにも食品大手の東洋水産や近畿大学などでも研究が進められていて、絶滅のおそれが指摘される二ホンウナギの安定供給につながるかが注目されます。

Translation

Totally Farmed Eels to Begin Online Trial Sales Tomorrow

May 28, 2026, 4:19 PM

Fisheries

Aeon, a major retailer, announced that starting on the 29th it would begin trial sales of totally farmed eels from egg to hatching and raising. This was the first time wholly farmed eels would be sold to the general public, and attention was focused on whether this could lead to a stable supply.

Aeon announced on the 28th that starting from the 29th, it would begin trial online sales of over 500 eels, raised using fully farmed methods by a Kyushu-based fisheries company,

The price was approximately 5,000 yen per eel, and this was said to be the world's first sale of totally farmed eels.

Most eels distributed in Japan were raised from wild juvenile eels caught in the sea or rivers. The government and companies were developing fully farmed eel technology, which involved hatching eggs laid by farm-raised eels.

According to estimates by the Fisheries Agency, the production cost per eel had fallen to just over 1,800 yen, about one-twentieth of what it was 10 years ago in fiscal year 2016. However, it remained more than three times higher than traditionally farmed eels, and that was a challenge.

Mitsuko Tsuchiya (土谷美津子), Vice President of Aeon, said, "It is important that wholly farmed eels become commonplace in the future. We are working to enable full-scale sales and hope to be able to offer them at an affordable price that is in line with the times."

In addition to this, research on the completely farmed eels was also being conducted by major food company Toyo Suisan and Kinki University, among others. Attention was focused on whether this would lead to a stable supply of the Japanese eel that was considered being endangered.

              So, Aeon announced that starting on the 29th it would begin trial sales of completely farmed eels. This was the first time that completely farmed eels being sold to the general public. As Japanese eel is considered as endangered, completely farmed eel is becoming more important.

Note:

1. There are a few reasons why wholly farm-raised eels are still so expensive in Japan:

a. Eels are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity: Unlike salmon or tilapia, eels have a very complicated life cycle. For decades, scientists did not even know exactly where Japanese eels spawned in the ocean. Producing viable eggs, hatching larvae, and raising them to adulthood required decades of research.

b. High mortality rates: Young eel larvae are delicate and require specialized diets and carefully controlled water conditions. Many do not survive, making production inefficient and expensive.

c. Specialized feed and labor: The Japanese Fisheries Research and Education Agency has stated that feed costs and labor costs are major contributors to the high price. Researchers have reduced production costs dramatically, but they remain much higher than for conventional eel farming.  (ChatGPT)

President Zelenskyy Claims 590 Square Kilometers Liberated from Russia This Year

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

ゼレンスキー大統領「ロシアからことし590平方キロ解放」主張

2026年5月23日20:38

ウクライナ情勢

ウクライナのゼレンスキー大統領は22日、ことしに入り、軍事侵攻を続けるロシアから590平方キロメートルを解放したと主張したうえで、反撃を強めるとともに、ロシア領内の石油施設などに対する無人機攻撃を続ける考えを強調しました。

ロシアによる軍事侵攻を受けるウクライナのゼレンスキー大統領は22日、ビデオ演説のなかで「ことしに入ってから、われわれの領土の590平方キロメートルが解放され、われわれの支配下に入った」と述べました。

そのうえで、支配された地域で反撃を強めるとともに産油国ロシアの資金源を断つため、ロシア領内の石油施設などに対する無人機攻撃を続ける考えを強調しました。

アメリカのシンクタンク「戦争研究所」は今月上旬の報告書で、去年11月以降、ウクライナ軍による反撃や輸送拠点への中距離攻撃などで、ロシア軍の進軍速度は「着実に低下している」と分析しています。

こうした中、ロシア南部クラスノダール地方の当局は23日、SNSで、黒海沿岸の都市ノボロシースクで無人機による攻撃があり、これまでに2人がけがをしたほか石油施設で火災が発生したと明らかにしました。

Translation

President Zelenskyy Claims 590 Square Kilometers Liberated from Russia This Year

May 23, 2026, 8:38 PM

Ukraine Situation

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy claimed on the 22nd that entering this year 590 square kilometers had been liberated from Russia's ongoing military invasion. He emphasized his intention to intensify counterattacks and continue drone strikes against oil facilities and other targets within Russian territory.

In a video address on the 22nd, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated, "Since the beginning of this year, 590 square kilometers of our territory have been liberated and are now under our control."

He further emphasized his intention to intensify counterattacks in the occupied areas and continue drone strikes against oil facilities and other targets within Russian territory so as to cut off Russia's funding sources as an oil-producing nation.

In a report released earlier this month, the American think tank, the Institute for War Studies, analyzed that the Russian military's advance had been "steadily slowing" since November of last year due to counterattacks by the Ukrainian army and medium-range attacks on supply bases.

Amidst this, authorities in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia announced on social media on the 23rd that a drone attack had occurred in Novorossiysk, a city on the Black Sea coast, injuring two people and causing a fire at an oil facility.

So, Ukraine claims that entering this year 590 square kilometers have been liberated from Russia. This suggestion matches the Institute for War Studies’ analysis that the Russian military's advance has been "steadily slowing". Apparently, Russia is facing difficulties in continuing with the war. I think the chance for the war to come to an end is increasing.

Google 如何開始贏得人工智能競賽（2/2）

Recently The New York Times reported the following:

How Google Is Starting to Win the A.I. Race (2/2)

Despite its early stumbles, Google’s Gemini has leapfrogged ChatGPT in relevance and usefulness. Soon, it will be ubiquitous.

TECH FIX - By Brian X. Chen - Brian X. Chen is The New York Times’s lead consumer technology writer and the author of Tech Fix, a column about the social implications of the tech we use.

May 19, 2026

(continue)

Google’s success with Gemini is a case study in how even a juggernaut can seemingly transform itself overnight to remain dominant. But past incumbents faced with similar existential threats did not have the same story.

About 15 years ago, Microsoft, whose leadership in personal computing was challenged by the rise of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android ecosystems, failed to stay relevant in the mobile phone era even after releasing its Windows Phone devices and acquiring the handset maker Nokia for $7.2 billion. Microsoft remains extremely profitable thanks to business customers, and it has a large video game business, but it no longer leads the pack among consumers.

Instead of isolating Gemini, Google reinvented itself by blending A.I. into all of its most important products. To name a few: There is a team working on Gemini for Gmail, another working on Gemini inside Google Maps and yet another focused on the Gemini chatbot app.

Google is also in a position to use A.I. to capitalize on the travel industry. Gemini is the only chatbot with native access to Google Flights and Google Hotels for looking up airfare and lodging, which makes it a superior travel agent.

To put it another way: What Google has that other A.I. companies lack is cultural cachet. And with the Gemini model integrated into so many popular services that people rely on every day for work and play, Google has made it much more likely that people will interact with its A.I., said Carolina Milanesi, the president of Creative Strategies, a consumer technology research firm.

“It’s not about just how good the model is, but where it is and how easy it is for people to discover Gemini and then use it and get value,” Ms. Milanesi said.

Google clearly leaned into its advantages to improve its technology. It made A.I.-generated answers a permanent fixture on Google.com — still the most visited website in the world — without giving users the ability to opt out of seeing them.

Despite making glaring mistakes about the nutritional value of rocks, among other errors, in its early days, Google quickly honed the model. But there is still some work to do. A recent analysis from The Times concluded that Google’s A.I.-generated responses were correct 90 percent of the time. Google disputed the study and argued that its answers were more accurate.

“They just have this reach that few, if any, companies on Earth have,” Mr. Rivlin said. “Looking for the next Google? It’s probably Google.”

Translation

Google 如何開始贏得人工智能競賽（2/2）

儘管早期遭遇了一些挫折，Google的Gemini在相關性和實用性方面已經超越了ChatGPT。不久之後，它將無所不在

（繼續）

谷歌憑藉Gemini的成功，展現了即使是產業巨頭也能在一夜之間完成轉型，從而保持其主導地位。但過去那些面臨類似生存威脅的巨頭，卻沒有同樣的成功案例。

大約15年前，微軟在個人電腦領域的領導地位受到蘋果iPhone和谷歌Android生態系統的挑戰，便即推出了Windows Phone設備並以72億美元收購了手機製造商諾基亞，也未能在手機時代保持競爭力。微軟憑藉企​​業客戶依然獲利頗豐，並且擁有龐大的電玩業務，但在消費者中，它已不再是領頭羊。

Google 沒有選擇將 Gemini 獨立化，而是將 AI 融入所有最重要的產品中，以此革新自己。。例如，Google有一個團隊在為Gmail開發Gemini，另一個團隊在Google地圖中開發Gemini，還有一個團隊專注於Gemini聊天機器人應用。

谷歌也擁有利用人工智能在旅遊業大展拳腳的優勢。 Gemini是唯一一款能夠原生訪問谷歌航班和谷歌酒店的聊天機器人，可以查詢機票和住宿信息，這使其成為一款卓越的旅行代理。

換句話說：Google擁有其他人工智能公司所缺乏的文化價值觀。消費者科技研究公司Creative Strategies總裁Carolina Milanesi表示，Google將Gemini模型整合到人們日常工作和娛樂所依賴的眾多熱門服務中，大大增加了人們與人工智能互動的可能性。

Milanesi女士說： “關鍵不僅在於模型本身有多好，還在於它在哪裡，人們有幾易發現Gemini、然後使用它並從中獲益。”

谷歌顯然充分利用自身優勢來改進技術。它將人工智能提供给答案的特點固定在Google.com上 - Google.com至今仍是全球讀取量最高的網站 - 並且沒有給用戶選擇退出查看這些答案的選項。

儘管谷歌早期在諸如岩石營養價值等方面犯了一些明顯的錯誤，但它很快就改進了模型。不過，谷歌仍有許多工作要做。 《泰晤士報》最近的一項分析得出結論，Google人工智能產生的答案有90%的正確率。谷歌對這項研究提出異議，並聲稱其答案是更加準確。

Rivlin先生說： “他們擁有的影響力，世界上幾乎沒有哪家公司能與之匹敵。想找下一個谷歌？那很可能就是谷歌。”

              So, Google has announced that the number of people regularly using its chatbot, Gemini had more than doubled to 900 million, on a par with OpenAI’s self-reported number of active users for ChatGPT and nearly 30 times the estimated web traffic of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot. The author of this article seems to be very sure that Google will win the AI competition, base on the fact that Google’s partnership with Apple will propel Gemini into all phones in the world.  My comment is that it is too early to tell who will be the winner in the competition in AI development.

Google如何開始贏得人工智能競賽（1/2）

Recently The New York Times reported the following:

How Google Is Starting to Win the A.I. Race (1/2)

Despite its early stumbles, Google’s Gemini has leapfrogged ChatGPT in relevance and usefulness. Soon, it will be ubiquitous.

TECH FIX - By Brian X. Chen - Brian X. Chen is The New York Times’s lead consumer technology writer and the author of Tech Fix, a column about the social implications of the tech we use.

May 19, 2026

Just two years ago, Google looked like it was in trouble. In a desperate move to play catch-up with the OpenAI chatbot that had upended the tech industry, the search giant debuted an unpolished version of its artificial intelligence on Google.com. The A.I. spat out shoddy information, including advice for people to eat rocks and put glue on their pizza.

Google’s reign over the internet seemed at risk.

But today, consensus is forming in Silicon Valley not only that Google has recovered and caught up but that it could actually win the A.I. race, a testament to how so much can change in so little time.

Google announced on Tuesday at Google I/O, its conference for software developers, that in only one year the number of people regularly using its chatbot, Gemini, had more than doubled to 900 million, on a par with OpenAI’s self-reported number of active users for ChatGPT and nearly 30 times the estimated web traffic of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot, which is more focused on business customers.

And unlike Anthropic and OpenAI, which are still losing money from operating expensive A.I. data centers, Google is rapidly developing ways to use A.I. to increase profit with online advertising, its bread and butter. In its last quarter, Google reported, its advertising revenue rose 16 percent to $77 billion, fueled by A.I. technology that has helped marketers collect deeper information about users’ interests.

Pretty soon, Gemini will become a staple on a competitor’s platform: Apple’s iPhone. Google and Apple said in January that Gemini would become the foundational A.I. technology for a future version of Siri, Apple’s voice assistant. Gemini is already included on Android devices, so the partnership with Apple will, in effect, bake Gemini into virtually all of the world’s phones.

At I/O this week, Google shared its vision for how it would use A.I. to increase sales for online retailers, including through a new type of shopping cart that automatically surfaces promotions to shoppers.

The company also said it was continuing to add its A.I. into tools that people use every day — for instance, by letting a person using Google Docs ask Gemini to draft a speech that includes personal anecdotes and jokes.

“If I had to put a wager on the biggest winner of A.I., I would say it’s Google,” said Gary Rivlin, a former New York Times reporter who wrote a book about the tech industry’s race to cash in on A.I.

“If you asked me that same question a year and a half ago, the answer wouldn’t have been Google,” he added.

(to be continued)

Translation

Google如何開始贏得人工智能競賽（1/2）

儘管早期遭遇了一些挫折，Google的Gemini在相關性和實用性方面已經超越了ChatGPT。很快，它將無所不在

僅僅兩年前，谷歌似乎陷入了困境。為了追趕顛覆科技產業的OpenAI聊天機器人，這家搜尋巨頭孤注一擲地在Google.com上推出了一個未經完善的人工智能版本。這個人工智能輸出的資訊品質低劣，包括建議人們吃石頭和在披薩上塗膠水。

谷歌在網路上的主導地位似乎岌岌可危。

但如今，矽谷普遍認為，Google不僅已經復甦並迎頭趕上，甚至有可能贏得人工智能競賽，這充分證明了瞬息萬變的局面。

谷歌週二在Google I/O, 即軟件開發者大會上宣佈，其聊天機器人 Gemini 的活躍用戶數量在短短一年內翻了一番多，達到 9 億，與 OpenAI 自報的 ChatGPT 活躍用戶數量持平，幾乎是 Anthropic 公司面向企業客戶的聊天機器人 Claude 的 30 倍。

Google與仍在因經營昂貴的人工智能數據中心而虧損的 Anthropic 和 OpenAI 不同，它正在迅速開發利用人工智能提升線上廣告利潤的方法，而線上廣告正是其賴以生存的核心業務。谷歌報告稱，在上一季度，其廣告收入成長了 16%，達到 770 億美元，這主要得益於人工智能技術，該技術幫助行銷人員更深入地收集關於用戶的興趣。

不久之後，Gemini 將成為競爭對手平台－蘋果 iPhone 的標配。谷歌和蘋果在今年 1 月宣佈，Gemini 將成為未來 Siri（蘋果語音助手）版本的人工智能技術的基礎。 Gemini 目前已內建於Android 裝置中，因此與蘋果的合作實際上將使 Gemini 應用到全球幾乎所有手機中。

在本週的 I/O 大會上，Google分享了其利用人工智能提升線上零售商銷售額的願景，其中包括一種新型購物車，可以自動向購物者推送促銷訊息。

該公司還表示，將繼續把人工智能融入人們日常使用的工具中 - 例如，讓用戶在使用 Google Docs 時，讓 Gemini 起草一份包含個人軼事和笑話的演講稿。

曾撰寫過一本關於科技業競相從人工智能中獲利的書的前《紐約時報》記者Gary Rivlin說道:「如果非要我押注人工智能領域最大的贏家是誰，我會說是谷歌」。

他補充道:「如果你一年半前問我同樣的問題，我的答案肯定不是谷歌」。

（待續）