Google’s Gemini AI App Could Soon Start Showing Ads, Company Executive Reportedly Hints During Earnings Call

Google has been showing commercials and sponsored search results under and over AI Overviews answers for months now. Moreover, various reports in the past have highlighted that the Mountain View-based tech giant is also testing ads in AI Mode. Now, the company could be preparing to bring commercials to its conversational AI assistant, the Gemini AI app. During Google's quarterly earnings conference call, a company executive reportedly told company shareholders and journalists that the tech giant is open to showing ads in the app. This comes months after the Sam Altman-led OpenAI announced it had started rolling out ranked ads in its AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT.

Google Reportedly Mulls Ads in the Gemini AI App

A Business Insider report claims that during the company's quarterly results conference call, Google's Chief Business Officer (CBO), Philipp Schindler, said that the tech giant is open to bringing commercials and sponsored results in the Gemini AI app. The executive pointed out that while its focus remains on bringing ads in AI Mode, the tech giant believes that “a format that works well in AI mode would transfer successfully to the Gemini app."

Talking about the financial aspect of displaying commercials in the Gemini AI app, the Google executive reportedly said that ads are expected to “play a key role in growing Gemini,” if the same has been executed well.

Interestingly, the tech giant already shows ads in AI Overviews search results in various markets, including India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, the US, Australia, and Canada, in English on mobile and desktop devices. The commercials are displayed based on a user's query, along with the content of the AI Overview. As of now, AI Overviews show text and shopping ads from existing search results, as well as “Shopping and Performance Max” campaigns.

If Google does roll out ads in the Gemini AI app, it could compete directly with the US-based AI giant, OpenAI. In February, the Sam Altman-led tech firm announced that it had started rolling out ads in its AI-backed chatbot ChatGPT for free and Go users in the US. While announcing this, the company stated that the advertised suggestions “do not influence” ChatGPT's AI-generated responses. Moreover, the ChatGPT ads are only displayed to logged-in adult users, but are now appearing for users under the age of 18.