Google did manage to launch the AI model Gemini in 2023. However, the launch was not yet complete, leaving the most powerful version of the model still unavailable. That launch appears to be fast approaching, but cannot be used for free forever.
Gemini 1.0 is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s GPT models. For direct comparisons between Gemini and GPT-4, Google always referred to the most powerful version, Gemini Ultra, at launch. That model would, for the first time, surpass human scores in MMLU (Massive Multitask Language Understanding) and thus easily outperform other AI models in performance.
One big show
It was just a disappointment to see that the most powerful model talked about so much was not yet available for use. According to Google, the problem lay with insufficient testing capacity.
Also read: Gemini vs. GPT-4: Google shows what a next-gen AI model offers
It was promised that Gemini Ultra would speed up the testing process starting in early January by addressing a larger pool of testers. It was also announced that there would be a new version of chatbot Bard called Bard Advanced. Its description says it is “a new, advanced AI experience that gives you access to our best models and capabilities.”
Paid version
So Bard Advanced needs to compete with OpenAI’s most powerful model, GPT-4, which is only available through a paying subscription. We noted earlier that there was a strong possibility that Google would also offer this powerful competitor as a paid option. In fact, a free variant is already available and improvements to Bard were made by adding a less powerful version of Gemini outside of Europe.
There is found more evidence of this price tag. An observant X user noticed a reference in the code of the Bard website to a three-month free trial period for users. A reference to Google One further down the code, in turn, suggests that the Bard Advanced is being added to this service. It is not clear whether this addition is for all users or only for users with a paid subscription.
