Google might start charging for special AI-powered search features, which would be a big change for the company’s money-making methods.
This shift is happening because providing this advanced search service costs a lot of money, experts say. Data Centers are expensive to operate. It means that many big players in the tech industry may start charging for their services to cover these costs.
According to reports from the Financial Times, Google’s idea is to offer this new search feature only to people who pay for its premium subscription services. These premium services are already needed for using AI assistants in tools like Gmail and Google’s office apps.
The new search feature, still being tested, uses advanced AI to give direct answers to questions, similar to how ChatGPT works. Heather Dawe, a chief data scientist, explains that AI-powered search is more expensive for Google because of the complex computing involved. By charging for it, Google aims to cover these extra costs.
Much of the focus in AI is on the high cost of computing power used to train advanced AI models. For example, Amazon recently spent $65 million on a single training run. OpenAI and Microsoft also announced plans for a $100 billion data center for AI training.
But training AI models is only a small part of the overall cost. Most of the money goes into running these models, especially as more and more AI tools are put to use. Because of the 24.7% capacity factor, you’d need 1,446 acres of solar panels to provide enough power for a 100 MW data center.
