Google is reportedly considering the possibility of charging a subscription fee for its controversial AI-powered online search feature.
The subscription plan will be the first in Google’s history to charge a fee for using its search engine. Google risks increased scrutiny from regulators, including the Justice Department, which is in the midst of a landmark antitrust case targeting Big Tech’s alleged monopoly in the online search market.
This unspecified AI search feature could be added to Google’s existing premium subscription services. The service already offers the company’s Gemini AI assistant within its Gmail and Docs products. financial times newspaper reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation.
Google executives have reportedly not yet decided whether to implement the concept, but it is said to be in active development nonetheless.
The company’s regular search engine will continue to be free to use.
Ads appear in both premium and free search products.
Google said it has “nothing to announce at this time” regarding its plans.
“For years, we’ve been reinventing search to help people access information in the way that feels most natural to them,” Google said in a statement. “Our experiments with generative AI in search have already addressed billions of queries and are seeing an increase in search queries across all major markets. We continue to make improvements.”
The company’s shares fell about 1.5% in early trading Thursday.
The internal review is the latest sign of Google’s push to integrate AI into its products. The company has been testing a so-called “search generation experience” since last year.
As the Post reported, lawmakers are concerned that the addition of AI-powered search could further strengthen Google’s monopoly on the online search market unless regulators intervene.
A federal judge is scheduled to hear closing arguments in the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google next month, with a verdict on whether the company maintained an illegal monopoly expected later this year.
Justice Department lawyers highlighted that Google spends billions of dollars in payments to Apple and other partners to ensure that its search engine is enabled by default on most smartphones. Ta.
Google’s search empire remains a major source of revenue, with online advertising sales reaching a whopping $175 billion last year alone.
Scrutiny over Google’s AI ambitions has intensified since February, when the company announced an update to its much-touted chatbot Gemini, which has since been linked to historical figures such as Black Vikings and Native American Founding Fathers. started spewing out inaccurate AI-generated images.
Google later disabled the image generation tool and apologized.
Despite the high-profile issue, reports last month said Apple was in talks to use Google Gemini to power some AI features on the iPhone.
One high-tech policy official described the negotiations as “brazen, to say the least.”
“Google has discussed similar issues regarding search defaults and is awaiting a ruling, while Apple itself reportedly faces imminent antitrust complaints from the Department of Justice.” sources told the Post.
