Google I/O 2025 kicked off on May 20 in Mountain View, California, with an AI-heavy keynote that showcased the tech giant’s most ambitious plans yet. Among a flurry of announcements, Google introduced two new AI subscription tiers — AI Pro at $19.99/month, and AI Ultra at $249.99/month — in a strategic move to monetise its rapidly expanding AI portfolio.
The Google AI Ultra plan, available first in the United States with more regions to follow, offers VIP access to Google's most experimental and powerful AI tools. Subscribers will gain early access to new features and priority use of Google’s top-tier models. “It’s for people that want to be on the absolute cutting edge,” said Josh Woodward, VP of Google Labs & Gemini, at the keynote. The plan includes access to Veo 3, Google’s new video generation model, the enhanced Gemini 2.5 Pro Deep Think mode, and the promising Project Mariner — a prototype AI agent that can perform complex web tasks and learn through demonstration.
Alongside these paid offerings, Google revealed major upgrades to its existing AI models, including Imagen 4 for image generation, Lyria 2 for music, and Gemini 2.5 Flash, a faster, low-cost model tailored for real-time tasks. New capabilities are also coming to Google Search through an expanded AI Mode, where users can ask long-form questions and receive highly contextual answers. AI Overviews, already used by over 1.5 billion people globally, are now further optimised for deeper engagement.
The event also spotlighted Gemini Live, integrating voice, camera, and screen sharing into AI-powered interactions — now rolling out to iOS users as well. Canvas, a creative workspace within the Gemini app, is also gaining tools for building infographics, quizzes, and podcasts with a single prompt.
Although AI dominated the agenda, Google did tease its next steps in AR with Android XR, previewing use cases such as hands-free messaging, navigation, and visual search via smart glasses — an area likely to evolve further in the coming year.
As Google doubles down on premium AI access, the question for Indian users isn’t just about when AI Ultra will arrive — it’s whether this pay-to-access frontier will redefine how we interact with intelligence itself.
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