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Google used last night's I/O keynote at the Shoreline Amphitheatre to ship Gemini 3.5 Flash as the new default across the Gemini app, AI Mode in Search, and the developer stack. Google's own benchmarks claim 3.5 Flash beats Gemini 3.1 Pro on Terminal-Bench 2.1, GDPval-AA, MCP Atlas and CharXiv Reasoning, while running at roughly four times the output-token speed of frontier rivals. Gemini 3.5 Pro is scheduled for June.
Gemini Spark, a 24/7 personal AI agent that runs on cloud virtual machines and works while devices are off, also landed. Spark is built on Gemini 3.5, runs inside Google's Antigravity development environment, and ships with Gmail, Calendar, Canva, OpenTable and Instacart integrations. It opens to trusted testers this week and to US AI Ultra subscribers next week.
Google restructured its AI subscriptions on the same stage. A new AI Ultra tier launches at $100 a month, and the existing top tier drops from $250 to $200. The Ultra tier bundles five-times-Pro usage limits in the Gemini app and Antigravity, priority Antigravity access, 20TB storage, YouTube Premium and Gemini Spark access.
Google Marketing Live opens its keynote today, Wednesday 20 May, at 4.45pm UK time, with Vidhya Srinivasan and Philipp Schindler on stage. The pre-show announcements are already material: AI Max for Search has formally exited beta with a stated 7% average uplift in conversions or conversion value at similar CPA or ROAS, and Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match all begin forced migration to AI Max in September 2026.
Google also launched the Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard for agentic commerce, backed by Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart, Adyen, American Express, Mastercard, Stripe, Visa, Best Buy, The Home Depot and Zalando. UCP is interoperable with Agent2Agent, Model Context Protocol and the Agent Payments Protocol. A consumer-side Universal Cart was demoed at I/O as the buyer-facing hub.
Gemini Omni, the company's new multimodal create-anything video model, also launched. Omni Flash is live now for AI Plus subscribers and higher, with ten-second clip caps, and rolls out free inside YouTube Shorts and YouTube Create later this week. An Omni Pro tier was teased.
