- Google may charge for access to its AI-driven search
- Plans include integrating AI into premium subscription services
- Traditional search engine to remain free with ads
A new report claims that Google is considering charging users for access to its AI-powered search engine.
According to ‘people familiar with the plan’ cited by The Financial Times, the technology behemoth is considering numerous alternatives.
The report states that this includes integrating AI-driven search functionalities into the company’s premium subscription services, which already grant users access to its novel Gemini AI assistant in Gmail and Docs.
Google would implement a paywall for the first time on any of its core products to obtain traction in the rapidly evolving AI market.
In extended trading, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, saw its shares decline by about one per cent in the wake of the report.
According to the report, Google’s traditional search engine would remain free of charge even for subscribers, and advertisements would continue to appear alongside search results.
A Google representative stated, “We are not developing or contemplating an ad-free search experience.”
“We will continue to develop new premium features and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google, as we have done on numerous occasions.”
At this time, we have nothing to announce.
We have been redefining Search for years to assist users in accessing information in the most natural manner possible.
“We have already served billions of queries with our generative AI experiments in Search and are experiencing positive search query growth in all of our major markets.”
“We are continuously enhancing the product at a rapid rate to meet the needs of new users.”
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The news arrived shortly after Google Gemini was criticised as “woke” for generating historically inaccurate but diverse images in response to user queries.
Using artificial intelligence, the application generates images in seconds from given prompts.
However, users asserted that the AI programme refused to generate images of Caucasians following testing with requests for pictures of the Pope, Vikings, and country music enthusiasts.
Attempt to convince Google Gemini to generate an image of a Caucasian male in the new game. “So far, I have not achieved any success,” a user on X (previously Twitter) observed.
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