Google Pushes Gemini Beyond Chatbots With 3.5 Flash and Spark

Google's pricing strategy aims to capture developers, fostering ecosystem dependency and potentially reshaping the competitive AI landscape. The post Google launches new $100 AI Ultra plan, cuts top-tier price to $200 at I/O 2026 appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Google will soon unleash a wealth of new artificial intelligence-powered tools and systems, including an AI assistant that will help users by proactively performing tasks on their behalf.

Google this week launched Gemini 3.5 Flash, a new AI model that’s expected to be significantly better at programming than its predecessors. The new model is also said to be four times as fast as its competitors, Claude Opus 4.7 and GPT-5.5, and more than twice as fast as Gemini 3.1 Pro. Google stressed the possibility of using the model as a tool for autonomous AI agents, which could, among other things, help users with planning various projects. To ensure Gemini 3.5 Flash is not used for malicious purposes, Google added a number of new safety mechanisms. The new model is available via the Gemini app, Gemini API, Gemini Enterprise, Google AI Search, and Antigravity. And professional users, will soon have access to Gemini 3.5 Flash Pro, according to TechCrunch.

Bank of America analysts believe Alphabet is still a buy, seeing potential 10% upside in stock price following Google I/O 2026.

Google's AI search evolution is accelerating at I/O 2026.

Google announced a new YouTube Shorts Remix feature that lets users restyle clips or even insert themselves into other people's videos using Gemini Omni. Now, at the bottom of a YouTube Short, when you click the remix icon, you'll see an option to "reimagine" it. Here, you can prompt Gemini to turn a video into pixel art, an anime, or a found-footage horror film. But, beyond that, you can also alter the contents by, say, inflating heads, inserting background actors, dressing people in pirate costumes, or even putting yourself in the clip. Creators can enable or disable the ability to reimagine videos. So, if you upload a short of your kids … Read the full story at The Verge.

Some ads will have chatbots built in. | Image: Google Google's AI-powered Search era apparently also extends to its ads. Now, when you search for a product, Google's Gemini AI chatbot will surface relevant items and generate a "custom explainer" about why you should purchase a specific one. The update comes just one day after Google revealed a new Search box for larger, more conversational queries, along with a focus on AI-generated results. In an example shared by Google, someone searching for a "compact espresso pod machine" might see a Nespresso Vertuo Up under a "Sponsored Product" label, alongside an AI-generated description saying: For a quality machine, look for capsule compatibility … Read the full story at The Verge.

Exclusive: Workers sign petitions over applications of AI by governments for defence and intelligence, and vote to unionise Google DeepMind has agreed to enter formal talks with UK tech workers that could lead to trade union representation, in a groundbreaking move that comes amid growing staff concerns about the use of its AI by the US and Israeli governments’ defence and intelligence. The artificial intelligence arm of the multi-trillion dollar Google empire, led by the Nobel prize winner Demis Hassabis, has agreed to meet the Communications Workers Union and Unite at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) after several hundred workers based at its London headquarters earlier this month voted to unionise. Continue reading...