Google Search has been free for more than 25 years, but the company is now planning to introduce some AI-powered paid features. According to a report from the Financial Times, Google is seriously considering introducing premium Search Generative Experience (SGE).
For now, this is currently in internal discussions and developers are working on the tech to deploy the service. But, there’s no confirmation if the company will charge for these features. If management agrees, Google could charge for generative AI-powered premium search features.
In place of introducing different subscriptions for search features, the company could bundle AI-powered generative AI features in search into its existing Google One AI premium plan.
It is worth noting that generative AI features consume a lot of processing power. So, making an AI-powered search engine will be expensive. ChatGPT has already become a big threat for Google. Microsoft has also integrated Copilot into Windows and other Microsoft applications. If ChatGPT or Bing Chat manages to hurt Google’s search market share, Google will surely lose a lot of revenue that it earns from search ads. Google doesn’t want to stay behind and is considering several ways to beat other companies in AI games.
I am again clarifying that Google has not decided anything and it could change its plans. They are still figuring out how to monetize its generative AI search features.
