Comment by neom

The permission thing happens to me too, but very intermittently, usually a couple of hard refreshes of the tab clears it up, sometimes I need to delete the conversation I'd just tried to start and start a new conversation. I can't remember the exact message, sometime like you don't have permission or permission denied. If I had to guess it happens 1 in 5 sessions I load. The API key stuff would be a lot easier if it landed you on the correct page in the GCP portal when it directs you out of AI studio, I think that is the most confusing part of the experience, you end up on what seems like a random GCP billing page with no clear indication as to what it has to do with API keys.