I recently started using AI Studio and created my first app. While trying to publish it, I was prompted to set up a billing account, including credit card details.
This was surprising because both the official blog post (The Starter Tier for Google AI Studio Explained) and the recent YouTube video (AI Studio Starter Tier Overview) explicitly mention that publishing under the Starter Tier should not require billing setup or credit card information.
As a regular Gmail user with a Pro account, I was under the impression that publishing apps would be free under this tier. Since the blog and video are both less than a month old, I expected them to reflect the current process.
Could someone clarify whether billing is now mandatory for publishing, or if this is an issue with my account setup?