It’s a break from their traditional approach in this regard, but reports suggest that Google is preparing to charge for its future artificial intelligence-assisted search tool. This would be the first time that one of the group’s flagship products, used by the vast majority of Internet users around the world, would become partially fee-based.
According to the Financial Times, these premium features would include new tools powered by generative artificial intelligence, similar to what OpenAI offers with chatGPT, ie, one part open to all and another that brings together the most advanced technologies and can be used for a fee. No launch date has yet been announced by Google.
A whole new generation of AI-powered search engines has recently emerged, such as Perplexity and You.com. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to optimize Bing, by including its Copilot intelligent agent, in partnership with OpenAI, the publisher of ChatGPT. Meanwhile, although Google’s search engine has not evolved in this way at this point, the Mountain View giant is about to change all that with a brand-new AI-powered search engine called SGE (for Search Generative Experience).
Currently in the testing phase, it will be able to generate much more comprehensive and contextualized answers than the current search engine, and may even, in certain cases, act as an alternative to ChatGPT. This means that, in addition to the traditional list of internet links corresponding to your query, you can obtain an answer written in natural language, addressing your question as precisely as possible.
Eventually Google SGE will also be able to write email messages or lines of code. Of course, most of the search engine functions will be able to continue to be used free of charge. It is this integration of new technology that could lead to a paid subscription.
Note that Google has integrated its Gemini generative AI into Google One and the Workspace suite, both of which are already paying tools. – AFP Relaxnews