Google CEO Hints at Future Ads for Gemini AI Assistant
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has hinted that ads may appear in the company’s powerful new Gemini AI assistant. During Alphabet’s investor call today, he acknowledged that Gemini currently relies on free tiers and subscriptions for monetisation. However, he added that the company has “very good ideas” for integrating ads into the product in the future.
“On the monetisation side, for now, we have focused on a free tier and subscriptions,” Pichai said. “But as you’ve seen [with] Google over time, we always want to lead with the user experience and we do have very good ideas for native ad concepts. But you will see us lead with the user experience.”
Pichai emphasised that Google is deeply committed to prioritising user experience. Moreover, he highlighted the company’s focus on reaching a vast user base. As a result, this strategy has been highly successful with Google Search and YouTube. He also stated that users will have options regarding the presence of ads. However, he clarified that the company’s focus for this year will remain on the subscription model.
This news comes as Google announced a significant USD75 billion investment in capital expenditures this year to fuel its AI research and development efforts.
While ads are not expected to appear in Gemini in 2024, their eventual integration seems likely given Google’s strong reliance on advertising revenue across its platforms.
