Google says it is open to putting ads in standalone Gemini app after focusing on AI Mode first

Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler said on Wednesday's earnings call that the company is open to eventually placing ads in its standalone Gemini AI app, a shift from its January position when its VP of global ads told Business Insider there were “no plans” for ads in Gemini. Schindler said Google's focus is currently on ads in AI Mode, its AI-powered conversational version of Search, but added that “a format that works well in AI mode would transfer successfully to Gemini app” and that “if done well, ads can be really valuable and really helpful commercial information.” Google also said on Wednesday that its overall subscriptions business has hit 350M paying subscribers, and the company is rolling more premium Gemini features into paid plans rather than turning to ads, while OpenAI is in the early stages of rolling out ads in ChatGPT and Anthropic has said it will not put ads in Claude.