Google may soon be unveiling a paid chatbot subscription of its own, following the runaway success of ChatGPT Plus, as many consumers warm to generative artificial intelligence (AI).
According to a thread posted to X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) from Android app developer Dylan Roussel, spotted by The Verge, Google has some new features coming for Bard, its conversational chatbot leveraging generative AI. These include Bard Advanced, a service that would be part of Google One, the tech giant’s subscription program.
“Get more capable large language model with advanced math and reasoning skills with Bard Advanced,” a screenshot shows, indicating that Google will offer a three-month free trial of the service.
Roussel added that the service would use the tech company’s Gemini Ultra AI model, cautioning that the features in the thread are “unreleased” and that they “may change” or “may never land at all.”
Google’s Gemini is part of the company’s push for more practical AI.
“For a long time, we’ve wanted to build a new generation of AI models, inspired by the way people understand and interact with the world — an AI that feels more like a helpful collaborator and less like a smart piece of software,” Eli Collins, vice-president of product at Google DeepMind, reportedly said at an event last month.
Google did not immediately respond to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
The news comes months after OpenAI saw demand for its ChatGPT Plus subscription surge so quickly that the company could not accommodate the demand. In mid-November, the company paused signups, reopening them a month later.
The popularity of the AI subscription comes as consumers are increasingly digitally engaged. “How the World Does Digital: Daily Digital Engagement Hits New Heights,” a PYMNTS Intelligence’s study that drew from a survey of more than 17,500 respondents in 11 markets that account for 50% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), found year-over-year increases in the digital transformation of 8 in 10 areas of consumers’ daily lives.
Plus, consumers are engaging with conversational AI more and more in their day-to-day lives. According to the September installment of PYMNTS Intelligence’s “Consumer Inflation Sentiment Report,” titled “Consumers Know What AI Is — Not How It’s Integrated Into Their Daily Lives,” which drew from a survey of more than 2,300 U.S. consumers, 1 in 3 respondents had used ChatGPT.
Additionally, “AI-Enabled Payments Enhance Customer Options,” a report by PYMNTS Intelligence and ACI Worldwide, found that about 4 in 10 consumers are very or extremely familiar with the term AI, and 1 in 3 report that AI technologies play a very or extremely prominent role in their daily personal activities.
Granted, at times when consumers’ budgets are coming under pressure, many are not trying to add more paid memberships. PYMNTS Intelligence’s study “The One-Stop Bill Pay Playbook: Drivers of Consumers’ Bill Payment Priorities,” created in collaboration with Mastercard, which drew from a survey of more than 2,100 U.S. consumers, revealed that only 19% would prioritize paying their membership subscription bills in full over others. In contrast, 50% said they would cancel the service.
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