Exclusive | This is just the start of an AI tech cycle: Google’s Pat McCarthy

They came upon a fork in the road, and Google made its choice. A few days ago, the tech giant reworked its Workspace subscription plans to include the Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) functionality across Gmail, Docs, Meet and NotebookLM Plus, for business users. That negates the need for a separate Gemini Business add-on, otherwise a cost of around $20 per month, or ₹1,500 for users in India. As Pat McCarthy, vice president of Google Workspace tells HT in a conversation, “the market previously was forcing customers to think about these as separate decisions.” The change means existing Workspace subscriptions will see a $2 price increase to cover for the new AI capability bundle (real-world subscription numbers may not be exact, because companies often get customised contracts from Google).