Google Reaches 150 Million Subscription Service Users With AI Assistance

Google continues to penetrate the subscription AI business (photo; x @amanz)

JAKARTA Alphabet Inc's Google One subscription service, which charges consumers for cloud storage and artificial intelligence (AI) features, recently reached 150 million subscribers.

This number has increased by 50% since February 2024, when Google One reached 100 million subscribers nearly six years after the service launched.

That same month, Google introduced subscription packages for $19.99 per month that provide access to AI capabilities that are not available to free users. Google still offers a wide range of Google One subscription rates for file storage, but without most AI features, at a lower price.

"This new AI package has attracted millions of customers," said Shimrit Ben-Yair, Google's vice president in charge of this subscription service, quoted by VOI from Reuters.

Google One is part of Alphabet's efforts to diversify their revenue beyond advertising, which accounts for more than three-quarters of the company's total revenue of US$350 billion (Rp5,772 trillion) by 2024.

Alphabet's success in this subscription business could play a key role in its long-term financial outlook, especially as the company faces threats from AI chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's own Gemini, which are starting to shake up the dominance of their search engine.

The AI feature led to a decline in the number of searches through Apple's Safari browser for the first time, according to an Apple executive testimony last week in court. Apple now plans to present an AI-based search option, which is a blow to Alphabet, which lost a market value of 150 billion US dollars (Rp2,474 trillion) on the same day.

Unlike search engines, AI interfaces have not found an effective way to smooth insert ads. Many companies now prefer to charge users via subscription or based on product usage.

Investors question how Google will adapt.

"As you can see on YouTube, we will provide users with options from time to time," said CEO Sundar Pichai in February 2025 when asked about Gemini's monetization efforts in a earnings call. For this year, I think we will focus on the direction of the subscription.