Gemini 3 flash invalid json responses, AI error costing me money?

Gemini API
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1

Gemini 3 Flash seems to get it’s self into loops at random, doesn’t throw an error (shows 200)

Happens randomly, we’ll see what I’m billed for, but returning bad looping 0’s for json is not something that should run until my timeout counter hits…..

cScreenshot 2026-01-02 at 22-46-25 Google AI Studio
cScreenshot 2026-01-02 at 22-46-25 Google AI Studio535×957 65.6 KB

cScreenshot 2026-01-02 at 22-39-11 Google AI Studio
cScreenshot 2026-01-02 at 22-39-11 Google AI Studio303×420 6.97 KB

2

Screenshot 2026-01-02 at 23-20-10 Google AI Studio
Screenshot 2026-01-02 at 23-20-10 Google AI Studio507×620 44.7 KB
from a retry of a different prompt.

Screenshot 2026-01-02 at 23-19-38 Google AI Studio
Screenshot 2026-01-02 at 23-19-38 Google AI Studio506×133 11 KB

4

Hi @Jay_Cee ,

Could you please share a minimal reproducible code along with your generationConfig, any prompt/system instructions and json schema? This will help us diagnose the issue efectively.