Washington, October 04 (QNA) - Google intends to reduce free access to artificial intelligence models in the Gemini service, days after launching its new Gemini 4 Argon model.
The company explained that free personal accounts that are not subscribed to Google AI plans will lose access to the Gemini Flash and Gemini Pro models, and their use will be limited to Flash-Lite, in a major change in the level of services available for free.
Unsubscribed users had access to all three models, before the company decided to limit free use to the Flash-Lite model only.
The changes also include Google AI Plus subscribers who will retain access to Flash-Lite and Flash, while revoking their access to the Pro model, while Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra plan subscribers will continue to benefit from all three models.
Google indicated that AI Plus subscribers will receive emails including when the changes will be implemented on their accounts.
In a related context, the company revealed that the Deep Think feature will be made available to subscribers of the Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra plans, after the feature was previously available to Ultra subscribers only.
The feature, which Google describes as being designed to maximize parallel inference, allows complex tasks to be handled using advanced inference capabilities.
Under the new changes, AI Pro subscribers will have access to Flash-Lite, Flash, and Pro models, along with the Deep Think feature, while AI Ultra subscribers will retain the same set of models and features.
This step comes after Google launched the Gemini 4 Argon model, through which it seeks to compete with the latest artificial intelligence models, including GPT-6 Astra and Claude Opus 5.5, in conjunction with continuing to expand the use of Gemini across its various applications and platforms.
The new restrictions are scheduled to take effect on October 9, with models and benefits available to users varying depending on their subscription plans. (QNA)