Free Gemini users are being moved to 'Auto' model selection, a change Google announced on October 3rd and is now rolling out across the app.
The bigger story for all users is the addition of thinking or 'effort' levels, a control that lets users dial how much reasoning the model applies to a given task. This is not a cosmetic update. It changes how the model allocates compute per query.
The full article details what Auto model selection actually means for free-tier access and how effort levels are implemented in the UI. If you use Gemini daily, the specifics of what you lose and what you gain matter.
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