When I need to research a topic these days, I often turn to AI, at least as a starting point. But depending on my questions and which chatbot I use, the response may not always be satisfying — it can be too brief or canned. In that case, I find myself wanting more. That’s when I turn to Google’s Learn About experiment.
As the name implies, Learn About is more than just a way to get a quick answer to a question. Instead, it’s a teaching tool that invites you to dive more deeply into your chosen topic. With Learn About, you can submit a text prompt, a PDF, or an image file to kick off your query. In response, Google’s AI provides details on the topic at hand.
What’s more, the answer is broken down into visually interesting and informative sections that encourage you to explore the topic. The AI might display an interactive list, explain how or why something works, and show related content. You might also find suggestions and questions to help you dive in even further. Here’s how I use Google’s Learn About.
1. Browse to the Learn About page
To get started, head to the Learn About web page and sign in with your Google account if prompted. The page suggests several topics you might want to explore off the bat, such as why we yawn, how to improve your memory and learning abilities, and how music affects the brain. The one about yawning intrigues me, so I select that.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
2. Explore the sample topic
In response, Google delivers the basic information in a format that invites learning. An interactive list breaks down the topic into different areas, any of which you can explore. A list of misconceptions clears up some common fallacies about the topic. In this case, Google refutes the notion that you yawn only when you’re tired or bored.
The AI even poses some questions for me to chew on and lets me reveal the answer when I’m ready. At this point, I can ask Google to simplify or go deeper in its response, and request images related to the topic. Further down, Google suggests questions I can ask to continue to investigate the topic. Along the way, Google provides sources to help confirm if the information presented is accurate.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
3. Suggest your own topic
To explore a topic of your own choice, click the sidebar and select New Chat. Google saves all conversations to your history, so you can return to any of them. I ask it to tell me about the theory that we’re all living in a computer simulation and not in an actual physical world or universe.
In response, I receive an interactive list with subtopics such as how such a simulation would be designed by advanced creators and how it might be indistinguishable from reality. The AI asks me what ethical considerations or risks might prevent a civilization from running a simulated reality. I’m able to think about that before revealing the AI’s answer.
A YouTube video presents an interview with the famous theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. Next, I can ask the AI to simplify or deepen its response and show me related photos. At the end is a series of suggested questions I can ask to explore the topic and different angles in more depth.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
4. Share a document
Instead of writing your question at the prompt, you can upload a PDF. You might do this if you have a document that covers a topic you want to explore. At the prompt for a new chat, click the upload button and select the PDF you want to use. Here, I upload a PDF of a report on how to use Instagram for business.
Google starts with a summary of the file. The interactive list shows me the key areas in the document, any of which I could explore on its own. I can tell the AI to simplify or go deeper and pose any of the suggested questions. The PDF itself appears in the left pane, so I can easily refer to the original document.
I ask Google to go deeper, which regenerates the response. But this time, the analysis is more in-depth, explaining how to engage with the audience, how to use hashtags effectively, and how to keep your Instagram business account consistent.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
5. Share an image
You can also explore a topic revealed in a photo or other image. At the prompt for a new chat, click the upload button and select the image you want to use. On my end, I upload a photo of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Japan, the only structure in the city left standing after the atomic bomb was dropped.
To start, I could draw on the image to highlight a specific area and then ask a question about it. Otherwise, I could simply send the image to the AI for analysis. Google quickly identifies the building and shows me the interactive list to investigate the structure’s survival, its status as a symbol of peace, and its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I’m asked to think about how a structure like the Atomic Bomb Dome contributes to historical memory and the promotion of peace. The AI answers that the Dome is a visual reminder of the consequences of war and the importance of peace, fostering reflection, and dialogue.
One area that intrigued me was how the building survived the blast. That is one of the suggested questions, so I select it. Google cites a couple of reasons for its survival, including its reinforced concrete structure and the overall design of the building.
Finally, Google asks me to describe what the building symbolizes and why its preservation is important. I could type or speak my answer and get feedback from the AI. After submitting my response, Google tells me that my analysis is sound but that I could provide more specific details, including the lessons the building can teach us.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
I like the way Learn About shies away from easy answers and instead engages you in a deeper conversation about a topic to help you explore all the avenues. As a virtual teacher, the tool offers an interesting and interactive departure from the usual AI responses. For those reasons, it’s certainly worth trying. Just remember that AI can make mistakes, so you’ll want to at least check out the sources for each answer to make sure they’re accurate.
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki has begun erupting again – at one point shooting an ash cloud 18km (11mi) into the sky – as residents flee their homes once more.
There have been no reports of casualties since Monday morning, when the volcano on the island of Flores began spewing ash and lava again. Authorities have placed it on the highest alert level since an earlier round of eruptions three weeks ago.
At least 24 flights to and from the neighbouring resort island of Bali were cancelled on Monday, though some flights had resumed by Tuesday morning.
The initial column of hot clouds that rose at 11:05 (03:05 GMT) Monday was the volcano’s highest since November, said geology agency chief Muhammad Wafid.
“An eruption of that size certainly carries a higher potential for danger, including its impact on aviation,” Wafid told The Associated Press.
Monday’s eruption, which was accompanied by a thunderous roar, led authorities to enlarge the exclusion zone to a 7km radius from the central vent. They also warned of potential lahar floods – a type of mud or debris flow of volcanic materials – if heavy rain occurs.
The twin-peaked volcano erupted again at 19:30 on Monday, sending ash clouds and lava up to 13km into the air. It erupted a third time at 05:53 on Tuesday at a reduced intensity.
Videos shared overnight show glowing red lava spurting from the volcano’s peaks as residents get into cars and buses to flee.
More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from the area so far, according to the local disaster management agency.
Residents who have stayed put are facing a shortage of water, food and masks, local authorities say.
“As the eruption continues, with several secondary explosions and ash clouds drifting westward and northward, the affected communities who have not been relocated… require focused emergency response efforts,” say Paulus Sony Sang Tukan, who leads the Pululera village, about 8km from Lewotobi Laki-laki.
“Water is still available, but there’s concern about its cleanliness and whether it has been contaminated, since our entire area was blanketed in thick volcanic ash during yesterday’s [eruptions],” he said.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic activity as well as earthquakes.
Lewotobi Laki-laki has erupted multiple times this year – no casualties have been reported so far.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Holding a virtual monopoly in a product on which the artificial intelligence boom relies should be a golden ticket. For chipmaker Nvidia, it has been. But ASML, which makes extraordinarily complex machines that etch silicon and is no less integral to the rise of AI, has found that ruling the roost can still be an up-and-down affair.
The €270bn Dutch manufacturer, which reports its earnings next week, is a sine qua non of technology; chips powering AI and even fridges are invariably etched by ASML’s kit. The flipside is its exposure to customers’ fortunes and politics.
Revenue is inherently lumpy, and a single paused purchase makes a big dent — a key difference from fellow AI monopolist Nvidia, which is at present struggling to meet demand for its top-end chips. ASML’s newest high numerical aperture (NA) systems go for €380mn; as an example of how volatile revenue can be for such big-ticket items, one delayed order would be akin to drivers holding off on buying 8,000-odd Teslas.
Initial hopes were high for robust spending on wafer fab equipment this year and next. Semi, an industry body, in December reckoned on an increase of 7 per cent this year and twice that in 2026. Jefferies, for example, now expects sales to flatline next year.
Mood music bears that out. Top chipmaker TSMC has sounded more cautious over the timing of the adoption of new high NA machines. Other big customers are reining in spending. Intel in April shaved its capital expenditure plans by $2bn to $18bn, while consensus numbers for Samsung Electronics suggest the South Korean chipmaker will underspend last year’s $39bn capex budget.
Politics is also getting thornier. Washington, seeking to hobble China’s tech prowess, has banned sales of ASML’s more advanced machines. Going further would hurt. China, which buys the less advanced but more profitable deep ultraviolet machines, typically accounts for about a quarter of sales. Last year, catch-up on orders lifted that to half.
Meanwhile, Chinese homegrown competition, given an extra nudge by US trade barriers, is evolving. Shenzhen government-backed SiCarrier, for example, claims to have encroached on ASML territory with lithography capable of producing less advanced chips.
The good news is that catch-up in this industry, with a 5,000-strong supplier base and armies of engineers, requires years if not decades. Customers, too, will probably be deferring rather than nixing purchases. The zippier machines help customers juice yields; Intel reckons it cuts processes on a given layer from 40 steps to just 10.
Over time, ASML’s enviable market position looks solid — and perhaps more so than that of Nvidia, whose customers are increasingly trying to create their own chips. Yet the kit-maker’s shares have been the rockier investment. In the past year, ASML has shrunk by a third while Nvidia has risen by a quarter; its market capitalisation is within a whisker of $4tn. That makes ASML the braver bet, but by no means a worse one.
Peter Thiel is unlike any other Trump tech bro. As well as a wildly successful investor, he’s seen as a thinker – the philosopher king of Silicon Valley. Thiel’s acolytes in the tech world and Washington include vice-president JD Vance but his relationship with the Trump camp is complicated. And there are still questions about what, if anything, he wants with the president.
In the final episode of this season of Tech Tonic, Murad Ahmed speaks to FT columnist Gillian Tett about Thiel’s political philosophy, and to Tabby Kinder, the FT’s West Coast financial editor, about his influence in Silicon Valley.
This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane and the executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design by Sam Giovinco. Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music, Manuela Saragosa and Topher Forhecz are the FT’s acting co-heads of audio.
