Google Bard to offer subscription-based 'Advanced' version powered by Gemini Ultra

Gemini Ultra is most powerful and is designed for highly complex tasks, multimodal support, and chatbot creation
A representation image of Bard Logo. — Google/File
A representation image of Bard Logo. — Google/File

Google has confirmed that its upcoming AI-powered chatbot, Google Bard Advanced, will adopt a paid subscription model.

The announcement was made during Google's Q4 2023 earnings call, although specific pricing details and the launch date were not disclosed. Initially introduced as a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot, Google Bard was initially powered by LaMDA and later by PaLM 2.

However, in December 2023, Google introduced its new AI model Gemini and claimed it to be the “largest and most capable AI model.” It came in three different versions, Gemini Nano, Gemini Pro and Gemini Ultra. The Gemini Ultra version is now confirmed to power Google Bard Advanced, according to Gadgets360.

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Gemini Ultra is the most powerful one. It is designed for highly complex tasks, multimodal support, and chatbot creation. Google claimed it outperformed GPT-4 and human experts on the MMLU benchmark for text outputs with a 90 per cent score.

Although details about the pricing, features, and launch date of Google Bard Advanced remain undisclosed, it is expected to cater to enterprise needs and may be bundled with a Google Workspace subscription. Reports suggest a potential link with a Google One subscription, based on the code found on the Google Bard website.

While predicting the exact pricing is challenging without knowing the full feature set, comparable AI chatbots like ChatGPT Plus, Copilot Pro, and Claude Pro typically range between $10 and $20 per month.

If Google follows a similar pricing trend, Google Bard Advanced could be positioned within this range. However, additional features, such as integrating under-testing AI models like Vertex AI, MusicLM, or Lumiere, could potentially increase the subscription cost.