Google Signals Possible Ads for Gemini as Long-Term Monetization Option

Google has left open the possibility of adding advertising to its artificial intelligence assistant, Gemini, though it has not confirmed any immediate rollout. The company has framed ads as one potential long-term path to monetizing the Gemini service.

Philip Schindler, Google’s senior vice president and chief business officer, said in a Q&A after the company’s first-quarter earnings report on April 29 (local time) that the Gemini app is currently focused on a free tier and subscriptions.

“Advertising can be a way to expand a product to a broader user base, and if designed properly it can be useful commercial information,” Schindler said. He added that Google is “not rushing” and would share plans “at the right time” if it has them.

Business Insider reported that Google is already running advertising and commerce experiments centered on AI Mode and AI Overviews, the AI summaries shown at the top of search results, and said Gemini could also become part of those monetization discussions over the longer term.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported first-quarter revenue of $109.9 billion, up 22% from a year earlier. CEO Sundar Pichai said the Gemini app delivered “the biggest quarter ever” for a consumer AI product. Alphabet’s total paid subscribers reached 350 million, including YouTube and Google One.

AI spending is also rising quickly. Alphabet’s first-quarter capital expenditures topped $35 billion, and its forecast for full-year capital expenditures is as high as $190 billion. As AI infrastructure investment grows, market pressure is likely to increase for clearer monetization plans for services such as Gemini.

* This article has been translated by AI.

AJP