The “next step” is in the system prompt, not the model. Gemini leaked part of its system prompt to me a few days ago, and there was something in there encouraging it to ask the user what they wanted to do next at the end of its response. Something about “give the user 1 or 2 options for follow up”.

I honestly find it rather annoying, but Gemini has stopped doing it to me for the most part, so maybe they’re trying out a new system prompt.