Google is considering charging for new premium artificial intelligence-powered search features, according to a Financial Times report that cites three people familiar with the matter. This includes looking at options such as adding certain AI-powered search features to its premium subscription services, which offer the company's Gemini AI assistant in Gmail and Google Docs, the newspaper reported. Google's free search engine would remain so, and ads would continue even for subscribers. In response to an inquiry about the report, a Google spokesperson tells TIME in an email: "We're not working on or considering an ad-free search experience. As we've done many times before, we'll continue to build new premium capabilities and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google. We don't have anything to announce right now." "For years, we've been reinventing search to help people access information in the way that's most natural to them," the statement also said.

Cooks prepare and serve food, clean workspaces, and interact with customers. But robots are already flipping burgers, and McDonalds is installing food-ordering kiosks in 2,500 stores this year. The same day that news was anounced, the iconic fast-food chain's shares hit an all-time high and analysts upgraded the stock. "Dramatic increases in labor costs have a significant effect on the restaurant industry, where profit margins are pennies on the dollar and labor makes up about a third of total expenses," says Andy Puzder, a former restaurant chain CEO, in the report. "As a result, restaurants are looking to reduce costs while maintaining service and food quality." However, the report does also outline how AI and automation can function alongside existing workers to improve results and free up human workers for higher-level functions.

The robots are coming, but the march of automation will displace jobs more gradually than some alarming forecasts suggest. A measured pace is likely because what is technically possible is only one factor in determining how quickly new technology is adopted, according to a new study by the McKinsey Global Institute. Other crucial ingredients include economics, labor markets, regulations and social attitudes. The report, which was released Thursday, breaks jobs down by work tasks -- more than 2,000 activities across 800 occupations, from stock clerk to company boss. The institute, the research arm of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, concludes that many tasks can be automated and that most jobs have activities ripe for automation.