Google recently launched the URL Context feature for its Gemini API. Developers simply embed web links in their prompts, and the model automatically parses web pages, PDFs, images, and other content, eliminating the tedious steps of traditional crawler scripts. This innovation not only improves data processing efficiency—for example, batch extracting information for 20 URLs or generating cross-webpage summary reports—but also expands its application scenarios through multimodal capabilities, benefiting everything from intelligent customer service to educational tools.
It is worth noting that while this feature is currently in a free beta, extracting content will incur an input token fee, requiring developers to optimize their prompts to control costs. Even more intriguing is its potential business model: Google may share revenue with content providers, similar to AdSense, to incentivize websites to integrate with Gemini through its API. For example, news platforms could update AI-powered summaries in real time, and technical blogs could precisely match developer queries.
Despite current limitations such as inaccessibility of paywalled content, Gemini's deep search capabilities, combined with "Google Search Grounding," have demonstrated significant potential. With the deep integration of AI and the content ecosystem, Gemini is driving the evolution of information processing towards smarter and more collaborative processes, bringing new possibilities to the industry.
