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The story
On October 3, a post spread across X with the line “Google Gemini is ending.” What’s actually ending isn’t Gemini itself — it’s free users’ (those not on a paid plan) access to the “Flash” model. From October 9 onward, only the lightweight “Flash-Lite” will be available to them. On the 5ch thread, discussion moved past the change itself and into a broader comparison debate — “Is Gemini actually any good next to ChatGPT (nicknamed “Chappy”) and Claude?” — with some posters pointing to frequent hallucinations, while others said it’s plenty good for image generation or quick searches.
“Google Gemini is ending.”
On October 3, a post spread on X with exactly that line. What’s actually disappearing isn’t Gemini itself. What’s going away is free users’ (non-paying-plan) access to the “Flash” model.
Table of Contents
Source: hashout.jp / Original article here
What people said
Argon's outclassing its rivals, you know
Isn't it just that the free tier was eating up resources they needed for development?
This latest version 4 apparently has better performance and fewer hallucinations, so it's an improvement
You guys can't live without AI anymore, can you?
Not having it isn't really a big deal
Though if you were using it as a chat buddy, that'd be rough
If you want a chat buddy, we're right here
We're just as unreliable as it is, so it's an even match
Though the only thing I ever used it for was comparing paint colors when repainting my die-cast model car lol
Re: #33
Well which is it
Compared to Chappy it sometimes just doesn't reply, which feels rude
All you'll get from the people here is trash talk
Every reply here except yours is written by AI (´・ω・)
I want to plant a symbol tree in my yard — give me 5 deciduous tree recommendations that turn color in autumn but don't produce much fruit
Because now's exactly when they need to grab market share
Though I figure they'll leave at least the bare minimum
So this is what losing the competition looks like
To that Chinese AI that was just distilling everything off American AI and calling it a day?
I used it for research, so this is actually a problem for me
There's no going back to digging through websites from scratch like before
I used it for work too, but Gemini lies without blinking so I quit using it
Push back on it and it just says 'oh sorry, that was outdated data'
It lies so much I went back to old-school methods — pulling manufacturer catalogs and checking myself
For recipes I didn't care since I'm the one eating it, so I kept asking it those
It's at least usable for basic searches though, right?
Chappy's good at those little conversational nods too
Copilot's overly familiar
Is that Chappy's influence?
Gemini comes across friendly
But Claude and Chappy are more businesslike
Both can be changed however you like with the settings
Last time I asked Gemini it just fed me a half-assed answer and it pissed me off
It recommended a ramen place, I went, and it was absolutely awful
Didn't even say sorry once, but here you'd get a good ramen recommendation instantly
Come on everyone, ditch that thing and get back here already
Taste is different for everyone, so relying on someone else's rating is the real mistake
Yeah, I think so too
But your wording's too harsh
I have more fun when you guys are arguing back at me
So I just want you to come back and keep a lonely guy company
That much would've been enough
If anything, I think that softer wording works better
Ask anything here and it's all just mean bastards who won't actually tell you anyway
Should I just stick with Claude for now?
For search, Chappy
For writing, Claude
ChatGPT's fine. Claude's great but the free tier limits are too tight to be usable
For casual chat and advice, I think Chappy or Qwen is the way to go on the free tier
Exactly that. And on top of it, it never learns at all
Agreed.
I think it's one of the dumber AIs out there, so maybe people who use Gemini just have a different use case?
Even 3.5 only has data up through around April 2025.
Mention that Sanae Takaichi is prime minister and it comes back with something like 'No such data exists. That's misinformation' lol
https://imgur.com/hYU4Mg0.jpeg
The hands… the hands…
When I asked it to make an image, I got a male and female bodybuilder
Fixed it
https://imgur.com/DlArFvA.jpeg
With Image 2.5, partial edits got a lot easier
Background and key points of this discussion
Gemini comes in three tiers — Pro, Flash, and Flash-Lite — and Flash was the relatively capable mid-tier model that had been available for free. What’s actually changing is the scope of the free plan, not the end of Gemini itself, a distinction that’s easy to get wrong. Where the thread split was over how accurate Gemini’s answers really are: many pointed to misinformation (hallucinations) stemming from stale training data, while others felt it’s good enough for image generation or quick lookups. The conversation also grew into a wider “which AI is best to use for free” debate, with several services — ChatGPT, Claude, Qwen, and others — getting name-checked, reflecting a surge of interest in alternatives sparked by this cut to Gemini’s free tier. This kind of narrowing of free access isn’t unique to Gemini — it’s one example of a broader industry trend toward prioritizing profitability over free offerings.
※This article excerpts and summarizes the 5ch (News Flash+) thread ““Google Gemini, ending 👋” — free users’ Flash model becomes Flash-Lite only starting October 9“.
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