what you need to know
- Google is considering locking some of its AI features in search, such as search generation experiences, into subscriptions.
- The search generation experience started as an experimental feature in Search Labs but has since been expanded to more users.
- Google already offers premium features to subscribers through its Google One AI Premium plan, which costs $20 per month.
Google is working hard to develop artificial intelligence features, some of which leverage the company’s dominance in search. For example, Search Generated Experience (SGE) is an AI-based feature that creates snippets in Google Search based on web results in response to user queries. Currently, features like SGE are free, but a new report from the Financial Times says Google may not keep this model forever. It could make SGE and other AI features in Google Search a paid experience.
Google isn’t shy about asking users to pay for the advanced artificial intelligence tools in its suite of services. Last year, the company launched its Duet AI subscription service in Google Workspace for enterprise users. (That subscription has now been renamed Gemini for Workspace.) Recently, Google began offering a consumer-level Google One AI Premium subscription for features like Gemini Advanced. It wouldn’t be a big leap for Google to include other AI tools in its subscription.
The Financial Times interviewed three people who “know [Google’s] “Plan”, he said that Google is considering adding generative AI capabilities in search to its subscription services. Although the report said that Google is actively developing systems based on subscription capabilities, such as SGE, a decision has not yet been made.
Google told the Financial Times that it will “continue to build new premium features and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google.” Additionally, the company said it is not working on or considering an ad-free option for Google Search, Dismisses the idea that a paid SGE program would reduce advertising.
“For years, we’ve been reinventing search to help people access information in the most natural way,” Google said in a statement to the Financial Times. “Through our generative AI experiments in search, We have served billions of queries and we are seeing positive growth in search queries in all major markets. We will continue to rapidly improve our products to meet new user needs.”
Regarding potential plans for SGE, Google said it has nothing to announce at this time. However, Google’s statement does not rule out making SGE a paid feature at some point in the future. The fact that the company has expressed a desire to enhance its subscription service could be a sign that Google is leaning into the idea.
Android Central has contacted Google about plans to make SGE a paid feature, but they didn’t get back to us in time for publication. We will update this article once we have more information.