Google's Gemini 3.5 Flash is a big step up from its predecessor, but in benchmark testing, it costs 5.5 times as much to run. On agent tasks, total costs even exceed the pricier Gemini 3.1 Pro by 75 percent because the model needs more interaction steps than any rival tested. Google isn't alone here: AI is getting more expensive across the board as the massive investments need to pay off.

At Google I/O we released Gemini 3.5, our latest series of models combining frontier intelligence with action.

Google used its I/O developer conference to unveil a wave of new AI products. The highlights: a new model called Gemini 3.5 Flash, a multimodal model called Gemini Omni, and a…