Fast Facts
- An FT report, citing unnamed sources, revealed that Google is considering dropping a paywall around AI-powered search features.
- Google's Search Generative Experience has yet to fully roll out, though publishers and analysts are concerned about potential impacts on web traffic.
Google (GOOG) is considering putting up a paywall around the new premium features that are part of its artificial intelligence-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE), according to the Financial Times.
If it goes through, this would mark the first time that Google has paywalled a main portion of its business.
FT, citing three unnamed sources, said that Google is looking at a number of options, including adding some AI-powered search features to its premium subscription, which currently offers access to Google's Gemini chatbot within Google's suite of apps. The membership — Google One — costs $20 per month.
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The report said that Google's engineers are working on developing the tech needed to support such a move, though the company's executives are still split on whether or not to launch the service.
The report said that Google's traditional search engine would remain free for users. Google has maintained a 90% (or higher) share of the global search market, even as AI tools have grown in use.
Google's search advertising arm generated $175 billion in revenue in 2023, around half of the tech giant's total revenue.
The potential of a generative AI search experience to disrupt that business model has had analysts and publishers alike concerned.
A recent report from ad-sales company Raptive found that SGE could cause traffic declines between 20% and 60% for digital publishers.
Analysts, meanwhile, are worried about a potential loss in revenue for Google.
"We acknowledge the near-term uncertainty associated with a broader [Search Generative Experience] rollout but have increasing conviction that over the longer term SGE will provide ample monetization opportunity on par with, or potentially above, traditional Google search," Wedbush's Dan Ives said last month.
“For years, we’ve been reinventing Search to help people access information in the way that’s most natural to them,” a Google spokesperson told TheStreet. “With our generative AI experiments in Search, we’ve already served billions of queries, and we’re seeing positive Search query growth in all of our major markets. We’re continuing to rapidly improve the product to serve new user needs.”
The company said that Google has nothing to announce right now.
Shares of Google fell slightly Thursday morning.
Contact Ian with tips and AI stories via email, ian.krietzberg@thearenagroup.net, or Signal 732-804-1223.
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