Google is considering charging fees for using its AI-powered search engine, according to a new press report. Newspaper quotes Financial The Times reported, citing people familiar with the plan, that the tech giant is looking at a variety of options.
This includes integrating AI-powered search features into premium subscription services, which already provide access to an assistant, the report said Gemini AI What’s new in Gmail and Google Docs. The company may justify this by pointing to the costs of operating data centers to respond to artificial intelligence queries.
Also Read: UAE banks increase their capital and reserves by 13.3% to 496.8 billion dirhams
The company’s shares reacted to the report, and shares of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, fell by about one percent in extended trading.
The report added that Google’s traditional search engine will remain free, and ads will continue to appear next to search results, even for subscribers.
In a statement, a Google spokesperson said: “We are not working or considering an ad-free search experience.”
“As we have done many times before, we will continue to build new premium capabilities and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google.” He added, “For years, we have been reinventing search to help people access information in the way that is most natural to them. “Through innovative AI experiences in search, we have already served billions of search queries, and are seeing positive search query growth in all of our key markets.
