The Financial Times revealed on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the plan, that Google is thinking about charging for premium services on its generative AI-powered search engine, according to Reuters.
According to the report, the tech giant is considering many solutions, such as adding AI-powered search capabilities to its premium subscription services, which now provide users access to its new Gemini AI assistant in Gmail and Docs.
In extended trading, Alphabet's shares fell by almost 1%. As it tries to catch up in the fast-moving AI space, Google would be the first to place any of its main products behind a paywall.
The article also stated that even for subscribers, its standard search engine would remain free and that advertisements would still show up next to search results.
"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," the company informed Reuters in an emailed statement.
Google, which developed the foundational technology of the current AI boom, is engaged in a competitive war with two major industry players that have drawn the attention of the business community: OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, and Microsoft, which supports it.
