Google introduces new class of cheap AI models as cost concerns intensify
On Wednesday, Google released Gemini 2.0 Flash to the general public after previewing it to developers in December
Alphabet’s Google on Wednesday announced updates to its Gemini family of large language models, including a new product line with competitive pricing to low-cost artificial intelligence models like that of Chinese rival DeepSeek.
The tech giant offers several versions of Gemini that vary in price and performance. It already offered a lightweight variant known as “Flash” but its new “Flash-Lite” model is even cheaper.
On Wednesday, Google released Gemini 2.0 Flash to the general public after previewing it to developers in December. It also launched Flash-Lite and released a new version of its flagship “Pro” model into test phases.
Google created Flash-Lite after receiving positive feedback about the 1.5 version of Flash, Koray Kavukcuoglu, chief technology officer of Google’s DeepMind AI lab, said in a press release. Gemini 2.0 Flash is costlier than its predecessor.
The cost to develop AI models and, in turn, the cost to use them have come under investor scrutiny in recent weeks after DeepSeek revealed it spent less than US$6 million on the final training run of a model. Developers at leading US AI firms said the total cost was likely magnitudes larger.
