Google’s AI-powered assistant Gemini currently offers an ad-free user experience. However, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has stated that he has “very good ideas” for integrating ads into the platform in the future . Pichai said that the company is currently offering a free and subscription-based model for Google Gemini, but that ads could also be considered as a revenue model in the future.
Pichai’s statements came at Alphabet’s investor meeting, where a Wells Fargo analyst asked questions about Gemini’s future revenue. Responding to these questions, Pichai said that Google has always prioritized user experience and has strong ideas about native advertising concepts.
According to the CEO, Google doesn’t plan to start showing ads on Gemini for at least this year. Instead, the subscription model is currently the primary strategy. However, considering that Google’s business model is heavily reliant on ad revenue, it seems likely that ads will appear on Gemini in the future.
Google is implementing different advertising strategies on platforms such as its search engine and YouTube. As Pichai mentioned in his statements, YouTube has a Premium subscription option that offers users an ad-free experience. It is thought that a similar model could be applied to Gemini.
In addition, there are ads in AI-powered results summaries on Google Search. Although there is no clear explanation of how a similar application would work on Gemini, it is estimated that Google is working on this issue.
It remains to be seen how Google will integrate ads directly into Gemini’s responses. Displaying ads without disrupting the user experience will be one of the company’s top priorities.
In addition to advertising strategies, Google announced that it will invest $75 billion in AI development through 2025. This investment includes data centers, chip development, and improvement of AI-powered products. The company continues to allocate large budgets to stay ahead of its competitors such as OpenAI and Microsoft.
Google has to be careful with Gemini ads
But Google’s past experience with AI ads has caused some problems. For example, an Olympics-themed ad for Gemini was recently removed after users reacted negatively. This suggests that Google needs to be much more careful when adding ads to Gemini.
While it’s clear that Google is working on native ad concepts for Gemini, it remains unclear when and how these ads will be rolled out. Integrating ads without disrupting the user experience will be Google’s primary strategy.
It seems likely that the company will offer Gemini users ad-supported free tiers and ad-free subscription options, as it does with YouTube, but Google has yet to announce any concrete plans in this regard.
