Alphabet posted a 13 per cent year-on-year rise in revenue to $86.3 billion in Q4 2023, with Google advertising up from $59 billion to $65.5 billion.

Net income was $20.6 billion compared with $13.6 billion.

YouTube advertising revenue increased from $7.9 billion to $9.2 billion.

Cloud revenue increased from $7.3 billion to $9.1 billion, which CEO Sundar Pichai stated was driven by its generative AI efforts.

Search revenue grew 13 per cent to $48 billion.

Pichai noted its Gemini AI family was improving search functions, with a 40 per cent reduction in latency in English language queries.

“By applying generative AI to search, we are able to serve a wider range of information needs and answer new types of questions, including those that benefit from multiple perspectives,” he stated, adding users are finding it particularly useful for more complex questions.

He explained the Gemini large language models are also more helpful for users “looking for deeper understanding, such as education”.

“We are improving satisfaction including answers for more conversational and intricate queries.”

Full year net income grew 23 per cent to $73.7 billion on revenue of $307 billion, up 9 per cent.