Will you get free YouTube Premium Lite with Jio Google AI Pro plan? Google says there's a catch

Google quietly reduced the usage limits on its AI Pro subscription plan on Monday but the company also added a new benefit for its subscribers with the addition of YouTube Premium Lite subscription. The basic tier Premium subscription for YouTube was launched by Google last year and offers ad-free viewing on ‘most’ videos along with support for offline downloads and background play.

However, there is a big catch to this offer. Turns out, the complimentary YouTube Premium Lite subscription is only available to the paying Google AI Pro members. This means if you received the free 18 month compilmentary Google AI Pro subscription by virtue of owning a Reliance Jio sim card, you are not eligible for the offer.

Vikas Kansal, product lead, Gemini AI subscriptions at Google made the change clear in a post on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “It (free YouTube Premium Lite subscription) will not be available during the 18 free months trial period. It will be available at the end of the trial if the user converts to a paid AI Pro subscriber”

What does YouTube Premium Lite offer:

YouTube Premium Lite subscription brings ad-free viewing for most videos but ads still appear for YouTube Music, Shorts and during the search results. Premium Lite also doesn't include YouTube Music Premium subscription meaning users won't be able to get ad-free songs, download them or stream songs in the background.

Moreover, YouTube downloads and background playin is not available for YouTube shorts or music content.

The subscription also doesn't include features like continue watching, jump ahead, queing or high quality audio and video viewing.

Google AI Pro subscription nerfed:

Google also quietly nerfed its AI Pro susbcription by moving from the daily prompt limit to a compute based allocation system. The company is also introducing a new five-hour rolling window system like Anthropic where users have wait for the required time before the ompany refills their compute quota.

“For the Gemini app, we’re introducing compute-based usage limits that factor in the complexity of your prompt, the features that you use and the length of your chat. Your limit will refresh every five hours until you reach your weekly limit.” Google said in an email to users

Following the change in usage limit, Google has faced massive backlash especially on the r/GeminiAI subreddit.

"They didn't even bother sending an email about this massive contract change," one user wrote in a viral thread on Reddit. "I burned 50% of my entire 5-hour limit on a single 5-post response back and forth today. I am not going to treat AI like a mobile game energy meter, and I am definitely not going to start a brand-new chat every five minutes just to bypass the heavy compute tax on long threads."