Google weighs AI-powered search subscription

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Google contemplates a potential shakeup to its core business model. According to a Financial Times report, Google is exploring ways to offer premium AI-powered search features within its flagship search engine for a fee. These features, sources suggest, could be integrated into existing subscription services like Gemini Advanced or Google One.

Crucially, the report highlights that even the premium tier would retain advertising. This suggests Google's balancing act: implementing cutting-edge AI while safeguarding its lucrative search ad revenue, which amounted to a staggering US$175 billion last year. The pressure to innovate is likely amplified by the rise of OpenAI's ChatGPT, pushing Google into a competitive race for AI dominance in search.

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Google tests AI-powered search reults with some US users who didn't opt-in

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Some US users might see a new section at the top of their search results. This shaded area summarizes the answer to your question, along with links for further details. This is powered by Google's generative AI technology, similar to its AI assistant, Bard (formerly Gemini).

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Google Search adds a grammar check feature to its chatbox interface

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The next time you want to check the grammar of a sentence quickly, you might find the answer in Google Search. 9to5Google has discovered a "grammar check" feature that will inform you whether a given phrase is grammatically correct. For example, if you type "the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog" into the search engine, Google will highlight that you probably meant "jumps" instead of "jump."

This tool is not only useful for search phrases but also for any text that you want to write correctly. If you are uncertain about a sentence you typed in a messaging app, you can copy and paste it into Google Search and see if it needs any correction. Google seems to want you to use its search engine as a general-purpose chatbox interface for accessing various features.

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Google makes it easier to delete your contact information from Search results

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Google is launching a new feature to help you find and delete your contact information from its Search results. The company will now alert you when it detects your address, phone number, or email on the web. It will then let you review and request to remove that information from Search.

You can access this feature from Google’s “results about you” dashboard on mobile and web, which it introduced last September. With the update, you can enter your personal information, and the dashboard will automatically show you websites with matches. It allows you to check each webpage it appears on and then ask to remove it. This move is a significant improvement, as Google used to require you to look for your personal information yourself and then manually ask for its removal.

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