Google slashes price of Gemini AI model, opens up to developers

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced on Dec. 13 that it plans to slash the cost of a version of its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model, Gemini, and make it more accessible to developers.

According to reports, the company said the price for the Pro model of Gemini has been cut by 25%–50% from what it was in June.

Gemini was introduced in three variations on Dec. 6, with its most sophisticated version being able to reason and understand information at a higher level than other Google technology, along with computing video and audio.

According to Google, the most powerful version is being designed to operate in data centers, while others will be implemented on personal devices and in Google’s suite of applications.

In addition to cutting prices, the company said it plans to make its tools available to developers to make customer versions of Gemini. On Nov. 6, OpenAI’s ChatGPT released a new feature allowing premium subscribers to create custom GPTs.

Related: Open-source AI can outperform private models like Chat-GPT — ARK Invest

The launch of Gemini was as exciting as it was controversial. Initially, Google released the product with a direct comparison to OpenAI’s GPT-4, even earning the name “GPT killer.”

However, internet sleuths soon began to poke fun at Google’s claims of superiority and posted comparisons of tasks given to both models, many of which saw more accurate results produced by OpenAI’s model.

Users on the internet said Google “lied” about its capabilities and edited the videos to show more impressive results. On Dec. 11, Google executives admitted that some of the promotional material used was manipulated for “brevity.”

Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT to the wider public in November 2022, many of the world’s leading tech companies have been racing to develop and deploy powerful rival AI models. 

On Nov. 28, Amazon launched its own ChatGPT competitor called “Q,” purpose-built for business, while Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, released its own rival called “Llama 2” earlier this year, and Elon Musk launched his AI chatbot “Grok.”

Magazine: Real AI use cases in crypto: Crypto-based AI markets, and AI financial analysis