Google rebrands Bard chatbot as Gemini, rolls out paid subscription

FILE PHOTO: The Google logo is seen on the Google house at CES 2024, an annual consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 10, 2024. REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google on Thursday renamed its Bard chatbot after the new artificial intelligence that is powering it, called Gemini, and said consumers can pay for better reasoning capabilities as it vies with Microsoft to win subscriptions.

U.S. customers can subscribe for $19.99 a month to access Gemini Advanced, which includes a more powerful Ultra 1.0 AI model, the Alphabet subsidiary said.