Google shipped three Gemini "Flash" models. Picking the wrong one could 6 your AI bill (opens in new tab)

This is a submission for the Google shipped three Gemini "Flash" models. Picking the wrong one could 6× your AI bill. I opened Google AI Studio right after the Google I/O 2026 keynote to try the new model everyone was talking about — and got hit with a small wave of confusion. I went looking for "the new Flash model" and found three of them sitting in the same dropdown, names so similar I had to read them twice: Gemini 3.5 Flash Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Gemini 3 Flash Preview Three different ver...