Google, the search engine utilized by greater than a billion folks all over the world, is reported to be contemplating charging for premium content material generated by synthetic intelligence (AI).

The firm, owned by Alphabet Inc, is alleged to be revamping its enterprise mannequin and placing a few of its core product behind a paywall.

It could be the primary time Google had charged for any of its content material.

Google mentioned it didn’t have something to announce “right now”.

According to the Financial Times (FT) it’s mentioned to be whether or not to add sure AI-powered search options to its premium subscription companies which already provide entry to its new AI assistant referred to as Gemini, Google’s model of the viral chatbot ChatGPT.

Executives have reportedly not but decided when or whether or not to transfer forward with the expertise however the FT mentioned engineers had been creating the know-how wanted to deploy the service.

Google’s conventional search engine would stay freed from cost however would proceed to seem with advertisements alongside searched-for content material, which subscribers would additionally see, the FT mentioned.

Google has confronted challenges coming to grips with the AI revolution – earlier this yr Gemini, which may reply questions in textual content kind but additionally generate photos in response to textual content prompts, stoked controversy after it mistakenly created a picture of the US Founding Fathers together with a black man.

It additionally generated German troopers from World War Two, incorrectly that includes a black man and an Asian girl.

Google apologised and instantly “paused” the software, saying it was “missing the mark”.

However, the corporate remains to be primary for almost all of web customers when it comes to trying to find info.

According to the worldwide market analysis firm Statista, Google has dominated the desktop search engine market since 2015 with a strong 80%+ of web customers. Various web sites counsel it has greater than a billion day by day customers.

The majority of Google’s revenues are generated by way of promoting. Its father or mother firm, Alphabet, is among the largest web corporations worldwide with a 2023 valuation of $1.6tn (£1.26tn), in accordance to Statista.

But it has diversified and now provides mail, productiveness instruments, enterprise merchandise and cell gadgets, amongst different ventures, and in 2023 it earned revenues of roughly $305.6bn (£241bn)

In a press release issued to the BBC, Google mentioned it was “not working on or considering an ad-free search experience”.

“As we’ve done many times before, we’ll continue to build new premium capabilities and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google,” the search big mentioned. “We don’t have anything to announce right now.”