> I can confirm a paid Gemini account is needed.

Google should say this up front (or at least prompt that I need to pay) rather than wasting users' time.

The 'How do I use Gemini in Chrome?' section of their launch page doesn't say anything about that requirement either.

Anyway, </rant>. Thanks for your help.

My apologize, I swear I tried to type "is not needed" but must have completely brain farted.

To reclarify: A paid account is NOT needed. I do not have one and it works. Do note the page says a US based Google account is needed though, it just doesn't need to be a paid gemini account.