Google offers students outside US 12 months of AI Plus free

Ahead of the new academic year, Google is putting AI on students' desks. University students outside the US, including those in Japan, will be able to use Google AI Plus for 12 months at no cost. The application deadline is December 31, 2026, and Google announced the student offer on August 19.

AI Plus normally costs 725 yen per month in Japan. In addition to access to Google's AI model, Gemini Omni, the plan includes usage limits twice those of the free version and 400GB of storage. University students in Japan also have access to another discount: AI Pro is available for up to four years at 75% off, or 720 yen per month, and YouTube Premium Lite is included at no extra charge. A plan that includes regular YouTube Premium costs 1,280 yen per month, a 69% discount.

For studying, Google has added a new student hub to the Gemini app. When students upload lecture notes or other class materials to a study notebook, Gemini creates a study plan. It checks their understanding with diagnostic quizzes and generates lessons and practice questions based on the results. Interactive displays, including rotatable and zoomable 3D models, tables, grids and simulations, will also become available progressively.

What changes. Students can organize class materials, create study plans, check their understanding and conduct research without having to use separate tools. Deep Research in the Gemini Live version, which accepts research requests by voice, runs in the background and sends a notification when the report is ready. A feature that reads exam dates and assignment deadlines from syllabi and adds them to Google Calendar with the user's permission is also scheduled to arrive within the next few weeks.

However, using the free offer requires registering a valid payment method, and the subscription becomes paid when the free period ends unless it is canceled. The student hub, study notebooks, interactive visuals and Deep Research in the Gemini Live version have been rolling out to all Gemini app users since August 19. Some features, such as calendar registration, are still planned rather than available.