A paid version of Google Bard is in the works. This is what clues unearthed in the chatbot code suggest.
Until now available for free, the Google Bard chatbot could soon follow in the footsteps of ChatGPT and in turn launch a paid offer. This is what clues unearthed in the source code of the Bard site suggest, in particular a sentence and an (inactive) link which evoke a solution called “Bard Advanced”.
These elements, reported on January 4 by Android Police, relate in particular to a trial period (“ Try Bard Advanced for three months, with us “). As for the link, it has this structure: https://one.google.com/explore-plan/bard-advanced. It is unclear whether access to Bard Advanced will be priced separately or included in the Google One subscription.
The Google One subscription costs 0.99 euros for three months, then 1.99 euros per month.
A chatbot with the most advanced model from Gemini
It should be noted that while Google has said nothing about the pricing of Bard Advanced, it has, however, mentioned the existence of this chatbot in the making. It was at the time of the presentation of Gemini, its new language model available in three versions (Nano, Pro Ultra). Bard Advanced is supposed to work with Gemini Ultra and is due for release in early 2024.
The monetization of Bard is an expected step. In web search, as well as in its services and products, the Mountain View firm is able to distribute advertising – its main source of income. On the other hand, there are no announcements (yet?) in Bard. An alternative would be to bear part of the costs via paid plans.
This is the option chosen by OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. At the end of November 2022, the public version of its chatbot was launched. Then, from February 1, 2023, a paid offer at 20 euros per month was launched: ChatGPT Plus. It provides access to the most advanced language model (now GPT-4 Turbo), prioritizes its clients’ requests and grants some other advantages.
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