Google's AI Model Significantly Reduced in Price to "Combat" OpenAI and Anthropic, Gemini Reaches 900 Million Monthly Active Users

BlockBeats News, May 20th: Amid intensifying artificial intelligence competition, Google directly "lifted competitive restrictions" at its I/O developer conference, openly challenging OpenAI and Anthropic in AI model pricing. To attract software developers and enterprise customers to use its AI models, Google has launched lower prices and a stronger programming toolset.

At the same time, the company introduced a $100 per month entry-level AI Ultra subscription tier to bridge the gap between consumer-grade and professional-grade models; and reduced the price of the high-end AI Ultra subscription from $250 to $200. In contrast to Anthropic's high-end premium pricing strategy, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that Google's affordable models will provide most high-end security and programming capabilities at a lower cost.

While Google's most powerful model has always been referred to as "Ultra," the company is now expanding its capabilities to include the more affordable "Flash" and "Pro" series.

The Google CEO revealed that the monthly active users of Gemini AI applications have more than doubled in the past year, reaching over 9 billion user interactions, with daily request volume increasing by over 7 times. He added that the company is currently processing over 3.2 trillion AI tokens per month, a sevenfold increase from 480 trillion a year ago, and significantly higher than the 97 trillion level in May 2024.