It isn't Gemini (the product, those are different orgs) though there may (deliberately left ambiguous) be overlap in LLM level bytes.
My recommendation for you in this use-case comes from the fact that AI Mode is a product that is built to be a good search engine first, presented to you in the interface of an AI Chatbot. Rather than Gemini (the app/site) which is an AI Chatbot that had search tooling added to it later (like its competitors).
AI Mode does many more searches (in my experience) for grounding and synthesis than Gemini or ChatGPT.
I take no sides; not a fanboy. Only used free Claude and free Gemini Pro 2.5. But some months ago I scoffed at the expression "try it in Google AI Studio" -- that by itself is a branding / marketing failure.
Something like the existing https://ai.google website and with links to the different offerings indeed goes a LONG way. I like that website though it can be done better.
But anyway. Please tell somebody higher up that they are acting like 50 mini companies forced into a single big entity. Google should be better than that.
FWIW, I like Gemini Pro 2.5 best even though I had the free Claude run circles around it sometimes. It one-shot puzzling problems with minimal context multiple times while Gemini was still offering me ideas about how my computer might be malfunctioning if the thing it just hallucinated was not working. Still, most of the time it performs really great.
Either with the web UI a la OpenAI Playground where you can see all the knobs and buttons the model offers, or by generating an API Key with a couple clicks that you can just copy paste into a Python script or whatever.
It would be much less convenient if they abandoned it and forced you to work in the dense Google Cloud jungle with IAM etc for the sake of forced “simplicity” of offering models in one place.
Why is the backend Google Drive? Why do uploaded (and maybe generated?) images end up there, decoupled from the chats they originate from? What quotas am I accessing; those for my free API keys, others, or none at all?
You do have a point about the dense Google Cloud jungle. I agree.
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[me] dark legacy comics who wants some bamboo
[AI Mode] In Dark Legacy Comics, the phrase "who wants some bamboo?" is a catchphrase of sorts used by the panda character Keydar. It is often used before the panda charges into a fight or expresses a desire to participate in some aggressive action. In the context of the comics, it is a humorous and slightly absurd representation of his aggressive streak.
The character of Keydar is known for his sometimes-contradictory actions; he is a panda (typically associated with peacefulness) but displays a more chaotic and aggressive side, and the "bamboo" catchphrase highlights this comedic contrast.
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Out of this response, the following information is accurate:
1. There is a character in Dark Legacy Comics whose name is "Keydar".
2. Nothing else.
Keydar does appear in the strip containing that phrase ( https://darklegacycomics.com/335 ), but he's the one who isn't a panda.
I'm intrigued that it's possible to run this search repeatedly on Google and get "AI Overview" responses that are all wildly different from each other. A new overview every time! They do not ever get anything right. The closest I've seen an overview come is one that said "there is no strip featuring that phrase", which still isn't true.
In fact, here's one (to the extent that they're different things, this is "AI Overview", not "AI Mode") that I just Googled up:
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The line "who wants some bamboo" is from Dark Legacy Comics #338: "Mists of... something". The comic was a satirical commentary on the announcement of the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria expansion.
In the comic, the main characters express their surprise and confusion over the new expansion's focus on pandaren (a humanoid panda race). One of them, after hearing the news, sarcastically holds up a piece of bamboo and says, "Who wants some bamboo?" to his guildmates, who look on with expressions of deep disappointment. The comic satirized the player base's initial skepticism about the expansion's direction.
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Verification...
1. The line is from strip #338: false
2. Strip #338 is titled "Mists of... something": false
3. Strip #338 is a commentary on the announcement of Mists of Pandaria: false [It appears to be a commentary on a change implemented in Warlords of Draenor, except it was published far too early for that. I guess it's a commentary on the stag form, which is technically an MoP change.]
4. Synopsis: entirely made up
