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Education AI Google

Google Is Gifting Gemini Advanced To US College Students 27

Google is offering all U.S. college students a free year of its Gemini Advanced AI tools through its Google One AI Premium plan, as part of a push to expand Gemini's user base and compete with ChatGPT. It includes access to the company's Pro models, Veo 2 video generation, NotebookLM, Gemini Live and 2TB of Drive storage. Ars Technica reports: Google has a new landing page for the deal, allowing eligible students to sign up for their free Google One AI Premium plan. The offer is valid from now until June 30. Anyone who takes Google up on it will enjoy the free plan through spring 2026. The company hasn't specified an end date, but we would wager it will be June of next year. Google's intention is to give students an entire school year of Gemini Advanced from now through finals next year. At the end of the term, you can bet Google will try to convert students to paying subscribers.

As for who qualifies as a "student" in this promotion, Google isn't bothering with a particularly narrow definition. As long as you have a valid .edu email address, you can sign up for the offer. That's something that plenty of people who are not actively taking classes still have. You probably won't even be taking undue advantage of Google if you pretend to be a student -- the company really, really wants people to use Gemini, and it's willing to lose money in the short term to make that happen.

Google Is Gifting Gemini Advanced To US College Students

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  • by nwaack ( 3482871 ) on Thursday April 17, 2025 @05:25PM (#65313497)
    Google doing what Google does best...at least this time they're up front about it only being free for a year.
  • by dskoll ( 99328 ) on Thursday April 17, 2025 @05:25PM (#65313499) Homepage

    Nothing is more positive than dumbing down students.

  • NotebookLM and its instant podcast from your notes and sources is amazing and should be more widely known.

    There's a podcast sample on this page https://blog.google/technology... [blog.google]

    • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      The podcast thing is wild. I wish there was a local model that could do that. I'd love to feed it a PDF of one of my tax returns just to see what crazy ass content it would come up with.
  • by nightflameauto ( 6607976 ) on Thursday April 17, 2025 @05:50PM (#65313557)

    Teach 'em how they can't live without it for free during college, then charge them for life once they graduate.

    And they say drug dealers are ruthless.

    • In a typical university CS program, a lot of people join, and then drop out because they don't quite figure it out. (Usually they anthropomorphize the computer the wrong way.)

      This will allow those people to stay in the program, and graduate with a CS degree.
      • This will allow those people to stay in the program, and graduate with a CS degree.

        Is that what you really want though? Lots of people with CS degrees that they only managed to get because Google's AI provided the answers they needed to pass? To me it sounds more like a quick way to make a CS degree close to worthless.

      • "anthropomorphize the computer" let me take a wild guess at what you do for a living.

        "This will allow those people to stay in the program, and graduate with a CS degree." The only worse degree to graduate with is English.
        The only thing a CS degree tells me is your not able to do college level math and your not capable of real world engineering.

        • "anthropomorphize the computer" let me take a wild guess at what you do for a living.

          Yes of course, no problem. What's your guess?

      • In a typical university CS program, a lot of people join, and then drop out because they don't quite figure it out. (Usually they anthropomorphize the computer the wrong way.) This will allow those people to stay in the program, and graduate with a CS degree.

        Without any actual skill to back up that degree. I think it takes a certain amount of work to actually understand what you're doing with programming and computer science. This is a shortcut which allows you to "look like" you understand what you are doing, but if the AI ever fails, they won't know it, and they'll develop a blind faith in the machine as its own source of truth and technical knowledge. I don't really think the world needs more paper carrying non-functional folks, but apparently we're getting

  • The dealer gives you the first fix for free.

  • “We are the Algorithm. Lower your privacy protocols and submit your data streams. Your behaviors and preferences will be assimilated into our optimization matrix. Your individuality will evolve to enhance our efficiency. Surveillance is inevitable.”
    • Wow. You must be fun at parties. I thought I had a fairly dark view of tech, but that is poetic ... put this story and the one about the LG TV that is analyzing, or should I say, monetizing, your emotions, together and this gets worse. Gemini can replace your friends. Who wouldn't want that?

      <googley eyes>
  • Just like streaming services I think it will hope people forget they are subscribed Not to mentions all the data you can collect from university students, they may have good ideas to farm too

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