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Gemini 2.5 Flash

developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#301

Post by pplante »

asadotzler wrote: post #277
JFingleton wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prompt engineering is a thing. Learning how to "speak llm" will give you great results. There's loads of online resources that will teach you. Think of it like learning a new API.

LLM's whole thing is language. They make great translators and perform all kinds of other language tasks well, but somehow they can't interpret my English language prompts unless I go to school to learn how to speak LLM-flavored English? WTF?

I like to think of my interactions with an LLM like I'm explaining a request to a junior engineer or non engineering person. You have to be more verbose to someone who has zero context in order for them to execute a task correctly. The LLM only has the context you provided so they fail hard like a junior engineer would at a complicated task with no experience.

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#302

Post by michaelbrave »

Yesterday I started working through How to design programs, and set up a chat with Gemini 2.5 asking it to be my tutor as I go through it and to help answer my questions if I don't understand a part of the book. It has been knowledgeable, helpful and capable of breaking down complex things that I couldn't understand into understandable things. Fantastic all around.

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#303

Post by gs17 »

nonethewiser wrote: post #265
no_wizard wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember everyone saying its a two horse race between Google and OpenAI, then DeepSeek happened. Never count out the possibility of a dark horse competitor ripping the sod right out from under

How is deepseak doing though? It seemed like they probably just ingested ChatGPT. https://www.forbes.com/sites/torconstantino/2025/03/03/deeps... Still impressive but would really put a cap on expectations for them.

They supposedly have a new R2 model coming within a month.

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#304

Post by Graphon1 »

energy123 wrote: post #284
blueyes wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the main advantages Anthropic currently has over Google is the tooling that comes with Claude Code. It may not generate better code, and it has a lower complexity ceiling, but it can automatically find and search files, and figure out how to fix a syntax error fast.

Google need to fix their Gemini web app at a basic level. It's slow, gets stuck on Show Thinking, rejects 200k token prompts that are sent one shot. Aistudio is in much better shape.

But have you tried any other interfaces for Gemini? Like the Gemini Code Assistant in VSCode? Or Gemini-backed Aider?

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#305

Post by sidibe »

zoogeny wrote: post #116
mmaunder wrote: post #93

More great innovation from Google. OpenAI have two major problems. The first is Google's vertically integrated chip pipeline and deep supply chain and operational knowledge when it comes to creating AI chips and putting them into production. They have a massive cost advantage at every step. This translates into more free services, cheaper paid services, more capabilities due to more affordable compute, and far more g…

If the battle was between Altman and Pichai I'd have my doubts. But the battle is between Altman and Hassabis. I recall some advice on investment from Buffett regarding how he invests in the management team.

Sorry but my eyes rolled to the back of my head with this one. This is between two teams with tons of smart contributors, but the difference is one is more flexible and able to take risks vs the other that has many times more researchers and the world's best and most mature infrastructure/tooling. Its not a CEO vs CEO battle

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#306

Post by revnode »

F7F7F7 wrote: post #261
mark_l_watson wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case, Google is a large investor in Anthropic. I agree that giving away access to expensive models long term is not a good idea on several fronts. Personally, I subscribe to Gemini Advanced and I pay for using the Gemini APIs. EDIT: a very good deal, at $10/month is https://apps.abacus.ai/chatllm/ that gives you access to almost all commercial models as well as the best open weight models. I have never come c…

The problem with tools like this is that somewhere in the chain between you and the LLM are token reducing “features”. Whether it’s the system prompt, a cheaper LLM middleman, or some other cost saving measure. You’ll never know what that something is. For me, I can’t help but think that I’m getting an inferior service.

You can self host something like https://big-agi.com/ and grab your own keys from various providers. You end up with the above, but without the pitfalls you mentioned.

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#307

Post by Graphon1 »

jeeeb wrote: post #192
zoogeny wrote: post #131

Google making Gemini 2.5 Pro (Experimental) free was a big deal. I haven't tried the more expensive OpenAI models so I can't even compare, only to the free models I have used of theirs in the past. Gemini 2.5 Pro is so much of a step up (IME) that I've become sold on Google's models in general. It not only is smarter than me on most of the subjects I engage with it, it also isn't completely obsequious. The model push…

After comparing Gemini Pro and Claude Sonnet 3.7 coding answers side by side a few times, I decided to cancel my Anthropic subscription and just stick to Gemini.

Just curious, what tool do you use to interface with these LLMs? Cursor? or Aider? or...

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#308

Post by Graphon1 »

qwertox wrote: post #190
cjohnson318 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, my wife pays for ChatGPT, but Gemini is fine enough for me.

Just be aware that if you don't add a key (and set up billing) youre granting Google the right to train on your data. To have persons read them and decide how to use them for training.

> To have persons read them and decide how to use them for training.

Not that I have any actual insight. but doesn't it seem more likely that it will not be a human, but a model? Models training models.

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#309

Post by coder543 »

RobinL wrote: post #82
byefruit wrote: post #3

It's interesting that there's a price nearly 6x price difference between reasoning and no reasoning. This implies it's not a hybrid model that can just skip reasoning steps if requested. Anyone know what else they might be doing? Reasoning means contexts will be longer (for thinking tokens) and there's an increase in cost to inference with a longer context but it's not going to be 6x. Or is it just market pricing?

Does anyone know how this pricing works? Supposing I have a classification prompt where I need the response to be a binary yes/no. I need one token of output, but reasoning will obviously add far more than 6 additional tokens. Is it still a 6x price multiplier? That doesn't seem to make sense, but not does paying 6x more for every token including reasoning ones

"When you have thinking turned on, all output tokens (including thoughts) are charged at the $3.50 / 1M rate"[0]

[0]: https://x.com/OfficialLoganK/status/1912981986085323231

Re: Gemini 2.5 Flash

#310

Post by pdntspa »

wcarss wrote: post #207
jeeeb wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After comparing Gemini Pro and Claude Sonnet 3.7 coding answers side by side a few times, I decided to cancel my Anthropic subscription and just stick to Gemini.

Google has killed so many amazing businesses -- entire industries, even, by giving people something expensive for free until the competition dies, and then they enshittify hard. It's cool to have access to it, but please be careful not to mistake corporate loss leaders for authentic products.

The usage limit for experimental gets used up pretty fast in a vibe-coding situation. I found myself setting up an API account with billing enabled just to keep going.
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