Adding sponsored content in more markets could make the feature profitable.

This development follows a mention in parent company Alphabet's recent earnings call for the third quarter of the year. According to the discussion for investors, execs noted that AI Mode was seeing lower monetization, not generating as much as the company is spending on it during the latest period. But the ads are apparently showing "promising results" thus far, so the addition of more markets could swing AI Mode to profitability.
After AI Mode became available across the US in May 2025, it didn't take long for Google to begin testing the sponsored content ads in November.