Google is considering charging for premium features on its generative AI-powered search engine, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the plan.
The tech giant is looking at a variety of options, including incorporating AI-powered search features to its premium subscription services, which already provide access to its new Gemini AI assistant in Gmail and Docs, the report said.
It adds that Google has been “scrambling to respond to the competitive threat posed” by ChatGPT for about 18 months now.
The move would mark Google’s first time in putting any of its core products behind a paywall, as it seeks to gain ground in the fast-moving AI space. Its traditional search engine would remain free of charge and ads would continue to appear alongside search results even for subscribers, the report added.
Why is Google considering charging for AI-powered search?
ChatGPT could theoretically become a replacement for Google search, in which case Google’s ad revenue will be impacted, and ad revenue is Google revenue, so it’s not surprising that the company would be thinking of ways to respond and adapt.
Because generative AI consumes a lot of resources, an AI-powered search engine would be more expensive to run, hence why the immediate solution seems to be charging for it – and it’s not just Google, after all ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot both have paid tiers.
“AI search is more expensive to compute than Google’s traditional search processes. So in charging for AI search Google will be seeking to at least recoup these costs,” Heather Dawe, chief data scientist at the digital transformation consultancy UST told The Guardian newspaper.
Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, runs no adverts but offers a $20 monthly “pro” tier that provides access to more powerful AI models and unlimited use.
Others, though, continue to offer their products at a loss. The AI features in Microsoft’s Bing are free to use but tied to the company’s Edge browser. The browsing and search startup Arc offers its products free to users and says it intends to raise revenue in future by charging companies for business features.
In a statement, a Google spokesperson said:
“For years, we’ve been reinventing Search to help people access information in the way that’s most natural to them. With our generative AI experiments in Search, we’ve already served billions of queries, and we’re seeing positive Search query growth in all of our major markets.
“We’re continuing to rapidly improve the product to serve new user needs. We don’t have anything to announce right now.”
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
