Today, Google will be hosting one of its most important Google I/O events in years, showing off all sorts of Gemini enhancements and integrations, as well as the new Google Books which puts Gemini front and center. In the run-up to this event, the company has started rolling out an updated look for Gemini, and with it, new usage limits.
Until today, Gemini seemed to be unlimited, at least on the Flash model, but now it looks like Google has succumbed, with the rest of the AI players, to more aggressively monetize their product and prove to investors that the massive spending was worth it and they can make a profit.
The usage limits page has two counters. The first is called current usage, which refreshes every five hours. The second counter is the weekly limit, presumably if you use all this up, then it doesn’t matter if the current usage resets, you’ll be locked out until it resets.
For those who don’t want to wait, there is an option present to you to buy Google AI Plus, which will double your AI quota. For those who don’t want to pay, Google Gemini will just have to become one of many AI apps you switch between when you hit your usage cap.
Google doesn’t outline a hard number of messages you can send, it all depends on the models and features you use. The more intensive they are, the sooner you’ll reach your usage cap.
In recent months, we have also been seeing AI IDEs like Windsurf really tighten up on their free tiers. What this is signalling is that investors want to see AI make a profit. For four years, tech firms have been spending colossal amounts of money in the hope that they can develop AI products that people will pay for. Now, they are finally looking to see if they can make a profit.
If you watch financial news, you have likely heard that the US stock market is largely being propped up on the back of AI optimism. If companies like Google don’t succeed in turning AI losses into profits, then we could end up seeing the stock market taking a hit. We will soon find out if the spending has paid off when big tech releases its earnings over the coming quarters.