Google has reportedly confirmed plans to introduce advertisements in the Gemini AI chatbot in the future. According to The Verge, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated during the company's investor call that Google has "good ideas" for native ad concepts in Gemini, however, the current focus remains on user experience.
When asked about future monetisation opportunities for Gemini and whether ads are part of the strategy, Pichai reportedly said the company will "give people options over time," similar to YouTube. However, for this year, Google will prioritise the subscription-based model. This suggests that ads are unlikely to show up in Gemini for now, but the company has plans for introducing it at some point in the future.
"I do think we're always committed to making the products work and reach billions of users at scale. And advertising has been a great aspect of that strategy. Just like you've seen with YouTube, we'll give people options over time. But for this year, I think you'll see us be focused on the subscription direction," Pichai said.
Although Pichai did not specify how ads will be integrated, they may follow a similar approach to AI Overviews in Google Search results.
Since October last year, AI-generated summaries in Search have been accompanied by product suggestions related to the search query, marked with a "sponsored" label to indicate advertisements. If Google takes a similar approach for Gemini, the AI chatbot's interface might display suggested content or products based on user queries or responses. These ads will likely appear for free-tier Gemini users, while the Advanced subscription is expected to remain ad-free.

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