Google is considering charging a subscription fee for Google Search results that incorporate information sourced by its powerful AI tech.
According to a Financial Times report (£) citing three Google sources, on Wednesday night, the company is planning a radical shift to help cover the vast computing cost of generating those results.
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As such, it’s super-charged search results could form part of its existing premium Google One subscription services, which incorporates the use of the Gemini assistant in Gmail and Docs.
However, considering Search is still the absolute core of Google’s business, adding a paywall of any kind would be a seismic shift. Even those paying for the privilege wouldn’t be free of ads, because, of course, that’s how Google actually makes money rather than just covering its costs.
The report says no decision has been made on whether the plan will come to fruition, but Google itself doesn’t rule out the premium search offering.
In a statement reported by Sky News, Google said: “We’re not working on or considering an ad-free search experience. As we’ve done many times before, we’ll continue to build new premium capabilities and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google. We don’t have anything to announce right now.
Subscriptions in Search might be more of a necessity for Google moving forward, given the power of AI is in sourcing key information and summarising it on one page, without users actually having to click anything – ads or otherwise – in other to gather the information necessary.
Before Google does begin charging, we would hope it sorts out some of the Gemini chatbot’s teething problems, including showing AI-generated images black people dressed in Nazi uniforms and native Americans as vikings.
