u/ouroborus777

Just got notice that, on September 14, 2026, AI Studio will require you to buy tokens in advance. Minimum $10 spend and they expire after a year.

Probably doesn't effect most of you as you're either firmly within the free quota or you average more than $10 a year. However, I imagine some of you are like me and sit in that weird area where you use just enough to consume all of your free quota but still use up less than $10 a year. To me this feels like nickel and dime-ing.