Gemini 4 is almost ready, says new Google DeepMind chief — SkimNews
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- Koray Kavukcuoglu, in his first media appearance as Google DeepMind's chief, told The Information that Gemini 4 is in refinement and Google aims to launch it "much earlier" than end of 2026, releasing "an early post-training output" as soon as possible
- Google hasn't released a flagship AI model since Gemini 3 in November 2025, while OpenAI's GPT-6 and Anthropic's Mythos series have launched since and reportedly outperform Gemini 3
- Sundar Pichai promised a major Gemini 3.5 Pro update at I/O in May, but the model was never rolled out; Kavukcuoglu said Google "took a little bit of a step back" to focus on faster, less powerful Flash models instead
- Demis Hassabis stepped down as DeepMind's AI head in August after announcing that "great progress" was being made on Gemini 4, clearing the way for Kavukcuoglu's promotion
- Asked whether he was concerned about Google falling behind rivals, Kavukcuoglu told The Information: "In my mind, it's a certainty that we are always gonna be at the frontier"
Why it matters: Google has shipped no flagship since Gemini 3 in November 2025, and during that window OpenAI (GPT-6) and Anthropic (Mythos series) released models the article says outperform it. A Gemini 4 launch well before end of 2026 — after a promised-but-undelivered 3.5 Pro and a pivot to cheaper Flash variants — would be Google's first concrete answer to that months-long competitive gap.
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