In my consumer gmail account with Pro, I see:

  3.5 Flash-Lite
  3.8 Flash
  3.1 Pro

In both a paid Google Workspace account (without the AI addon) and a free 'GSuite' account, I see:

  3.6 Flash
  3.6 Thinking
  3.1 Pro

I would imagine you are experiencing a bug. I've been using 3.8 daily since its release (on a Pro plan in Canada). I believe this is true of many people.

What is your reason to believe this is not a bug specific to a small set of Pro users?

just Google being whatever the fuck it's been for the past 15 years.

That's weird. I got 3.8 and 3.7 on the days they were released. https://imgur.com/a/Xu4wRLM (this is on gemini.google.com, but the same is true of the iOS app and the desktop app).

I was reading the announcement and wondering the same. And don't forget, still with 3.1 Pro as the frontier model.

Indeed. They have this amazing model and you can’t access it in their own branded app. It’s insane.

they moved it from the place you'd expect to ai.studio