The commercialization of large models is moving from "subscription" to a more direct "transaction commission" era. Google is testing a major feature that allows consumers to directly purchase products when getting AI answers through the search engine and Gemini chatbot.
New Way of "Selling" in AI Search
According to a letter from Google to the advertising industry, its search business AI model is undergoing a gray-scale test of new advertising formats.
Direct Purchase: Users can now directly buy products from e-commerce platforms such as Etsy and Wayfair within Gemini.
Direct Discounts: The newly added "Direct Offers" feature will allow brands to directly send discounts to potential shoppers, converting AI interactions into immediate purchasing actions.
Google's Strategic Monetization: AI Is No Longer Just a "Search Engine"
This change is a key part of Google's overall plan, aiming to monetize more directly from user interactions with AI. By embedding retailers' and advertisers' products into the AI model, Google is trying to establish a profit barrier in the competitive AI market by leveraging its vast commercial ecosystem.
Big Tech Moves: Competition in Both Computing Power and Data
As Google advances its monetization strategy, Meta also announced plans to build a data center with over $1 billion investment in Indiana. This means that while major companies compete for transaction access points at the front end, infrastructure development and monetization pressures are also intensifying at the back end.
From "information retrieval" to "product transactions," the role of AI assistants is undergoing a fundamental transformation. With Google's plan fully rolled out, future shopping processes may be simplified to just a few words.
