"I used the Gemini AI (Google) to run a script.
Gemini Chat repeatedly assured me that the usage was completely free via its API (Free Tier). The result: I woke up to a bill of over 12,000 yen in two days.
Good thing I checked the billing after that, otherwise who knows what crazy money I would have been charged.
Here is how I was trapped by the AI's erroneous advice:
The Lie About Billing: The AI pushed me to enable billing to access image features, assuring me that text generation would remain free. This is false. In Google Cloud, as soon as you add a credit card, the 'Free' mode is often replaced by 'Pay-as-you-go' without a clear warning, and every single word generated is charged to your account.
The Failure of the 'Secure' Script: We spent hours coding a script together to scrupulously respect the limit of 15 requests per minute (a 4.5s delay between each word). The AI assured me this would be enough to stay within the free limits.
Technical Bad Faith: Once the bill arrived and I disabled billing, the script started crashing. The AI then changed its tune, saying: 'Ah, actually 4.5s isn't enough because there is also a volume quota (tokens) that I didn't account for.'
In short: The AI gave me incomplete and dangerous technical advice. It led me to believe I was in control of my budget while leading me straight into a financial pit. If you want to automate data, do not trust 'free' promises from these models without verifying every single line of Google's billing conditions. A configuration error suggested by the AI can cost you very dearly."
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