Google is reportedly considering putting AI-powered search behind a paywall, a potentially significant change to its business model.
The Financial Times spoke with three people familiar with Google’s plans. According to the sources, Google is looking at adding some AI-powered search features to its premium subscription services, and engineers are already working on the technology needed to do so. However, executives reportedly haven’t made a final decision on whether to follow through with the plan.
If Google does go through with the plan, the traditional search experience would remain free of charge and continue to serve ads. However, ads would also still appear in results for people who subscribe.
When asked about the plans, Google told the Financial Times it didn’t “have anything to announce right now.” It also said it wasn’t working on or considering an ad-free search experience, but it will “continue to build new premium capabilities and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google.”
The search giant has already started putting some of its AI tools behind paywalls. The company recently added a new premium tier to its Google One subscription that unlocks some capabilities of the Gemini chatbot.
Charging for search is a major departure
The report is notable for several reasons. For one, Google offers most of its core products, like Search and Gmail, for free and funds them through advertising. Most of Google’s paid products are either aimed at businesses or offer small enhancements to existing free services.
But charging for a core experience is only part of the puzzle. Search leveraging generative AI capabilities threatens Google’s ad revenue while also being extremely expensive to operate. One of the main pitches of AI search is that the AI can look at web content, extract necessary information and regurgitate it for users.
Take, for example, looking for a recipe. Currently, search spits out a list of links that users can click to see recipes. That results page also features ads, including paid results that users can click on. Some analysts have raised concerns that if Google offers complete, AI-generated results that remove the need for users to click links, it could harm ad revenue. Not to mention that removing the need for users to click through to websites will hurt the very sites Google’s AI gathers information from to provide its AI-generated answers, potentially leading to a vicious cycle where Google cannibalizes the sources it relies on to power its search features.
Coupled with the fact that generative AI requires significant computing power, using it to generate search results makes it more expensive for Google to provide search, a potentially significant problem if those AI-powered results also hurt the company’s revenue.
With all that in mind, it’s not surprising that Google is considering putting AI search features behind a paywall. But even if Google goes that route, there’s no guarantee people will pay for it. There are already many free and paid generative AI tools available, and users are starting to realize that AI is overhyped, making it tough to justify some of the pricier AI options out there.
Source: Financial Times
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