Google working on paid upgrade for Bard AI chatbot
What's the story
Google has big plans for its conversational AI chatbot, Bard, with a paid upgrade called Bard Advanced in the works. It seems that Bard Advanced will be part of Google One, but it's not yet clear if it'll be available across all tiers or just the pricier ones. We can expect Bard Advanced to be launched sometime early this year.
Details
Free trial and integration with Gemini AI model
Users will be able to test out Bard Advanced for three months without spending a dime. After that, it's likely they will need to pay up to continue using the service. In December 2023, Google unveiled its most powerful AI model, Gemini, which comes in three flavors: Nano, Pro, and Ultra. Right now, Bard in the US is powered by the Pro version, but the even more advanced Gemini Ultra is set to fuel Bard Advanced.
What Next?
Google is walking in the steps of OpenAI
Google's choice to offer a paid tier for Bard Advanced follows in the footsteps of OpenAI, which also provides paid tiers for its top-of-the-line GPT versions. Running large language models (LLMs) demands a lot of energy and server infrastructure. Since Google's usual ad-based approach doesn't quite cut it for LLMs, introducing a paid tier could help cover some of the costs that come with operating these models.
Definition
What is Google One?
Google describes Google One as a "subscription plan that gives you more storage to use across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos." Each Google account is offered with 15GB of complimentary storage. However, on upgrading to Google One, the total storage increases to 100GB or higher depending on the plan chosen by the customer.