Google Launches Three New Gemini Models, But Holds Back Its Flagship
Google just flooded the market with three cheap, fast Gemini models, including one focused on security, directly competing with Anthropic’s Mythis. However, its much-anticipated flagship model, Gemini 3.5 Pro, remains in testing, while other AI giants have recently released their latest advancements.
A Shift in Strategy
On Tuesday, Google launched three new models at its "Flash" tier, prioritizing efficiency over raw power. The cheapest, Gemini 3.6 Flash, boasts improved performance for coding and knowledge work while using fewer tokens. It costs $7.50 per million output tokens, down from $9.
Alongside it, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite offers the fastest speed at 350 tokens per second, further emphasizing Google’s bet that most AI tasks don’t require a powerful model, just an affordable one.
A Direct Challenge to Anthropic’s Security Lead
The most notable release is Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber, designed for identifying and patching software vulnerabilities. Google positions it as a cost-efficient alternative to large security models, directly challenging Anthropic’s Mythis. With a price tag of $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output, Google claims Flash Cyber matches frontier performance at a fraction of the cost.
However, due to potential misuse by attackers, this model is only available to governments and trusted partners through a limited pilot program.
The Missing Flagship
Despite promising a Gemini 3.5 Pro model for June, Google has yet to release it, reportedly because it fell short on coding benchmarks. This absence is notable as other AI companies, such as OpenAI, Moonshot, and xAI, have recently released their models. Anthropic’s Fable 5 currently tops the leaderboards.
Looking Ahead to Gemini 4
Google also teases a "most ambitious pre-training run yet" for Gemini 4, but this remains a future project. They’re further investing in a custom chip to serve Gemini at a significantly lower cost.
The success of Google’s strategy hinges on two factors: the eventual release of Gemini 3.5 Pro and whether Gemini 4 lives up to its promises beyond just a training run.