Wait, is Google Gemini really getting 'dumber'?

Google recently announced new limits on its budget Gemini tiers, including for users who don’t pay for the service and those enrolled in the $4.99/month AI Plus subscription. We recently ran a survey on this topic, and the majority of users believe that Google was wrong to tinker with its Gemini model access; however, another question remains: Has Gemini lived up to its users’ expectations?

Personally, no. I don’t use Gemini beyond its role as an Assistant replacement in my car or on my phone, but I certainly wish it were more accomplished in this regard. It often misunderstands my requests, drifts off into tangents when all I want is a navigational heading, or tries to play songs on apps I either don’t have installed or subscribe to. It’s horrendous, and has been ever since it switched places with Assistant.

Those who do use Gemini as a practical AI or work tool are also facing grief. In recent weeks, we’ve noticed an uptick in users highlighting performance and accuracy issues relating to Gemini’s various models, with the word “broken” used far more than Google would probably like.

“I feel like Gemini doesn’t understand my questions goes out of his way and also can’t create PDFs. I tried 3.1 Pro too but all of them got dumber after the high/medium/low update [sic],” writes u/Moist-Minute5119 on a newer r/GeminiAI thread.

Some have highlighted a dip in performance on the free tier since Google imposed its new model limits, particularly for image generation. u/TMonkeyKing writes on that same thread:

Flash-Lite image generation has been NOTABLY degraded. It’s just sad now. Extremely disappointed, and definitely not considering an upgrade based on what I’ve heard from paid users. Are they trying to push users off the platform? Because I’ve got one foot out the door right now.

u/Ok_Refrigerator7619 believes it’s affecting all subscription tiers, not just those stuck with the Flash-Lite offering:

I even get the feeling that there’s no difference between the Flash and Pro models now. Previously, for example, the Pro model could provide a more detailed and understandable answer, but now, like Flash, it gives a short summary. And the new thinking levels — low, medium, and high — feel like they don’t change anything at all.

Multiple other Reddit threads raise concerns about Gemini’s gradual decline, with some critiques dating back to June.

If you’re a Google Gemini user in any of its multiple forms, have you experienced degraded performance in any way? Do you feel that it has gotten “dumber” in recent months? We’d like to hear your experience.

Here are some more questions:

• Are you a free Gemini user or do you subscribe to one of its paid tiers?
• Do you notice a difference in capability or performance between Gemini’s various models and subscription tiers?
• How do you use Gemini daily?
• Have you considered moving to another AI platform? If so, which?
• What do you believe is the single most important facet of Gemini that Google needs to fix?
• Where do you stand on the Google Assistant vs Google Gemini debate? Do you still miss the former?

👇 And if you have a specific comment related to your poll choice, or want to answer any of the questions posed above, be sure to have your say in the comments below.