Vetted by NeuralPress's Multi-Agent Verifier for strict factual validity and event relevance. Our compliance engine cross-checks and filters search results to ensure zero false correlations or misleading content.
Model Comparison Strategy
Comparison of Gemini 3.5 Flash vs expected Gemini 3.5 Pro capabilities.
Primary Sources
Why Google held back a huge new AI model at its big conference
Why Google held back a huge new AI model at its big conference By Alistair Barr You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email. Author of the Tech Memo newsletter Google CEO Sundar Pichai talks onstage on Tuesday at the company's I/O conference in Silicon Valley. Alistair Barr/Business Insider Google delayed its Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model, disappointing some developers. The smaller Gemini 3.5 Flash model now powers Google's Antigravity AI coding service. Feedback from 3.5 Flash will likely be used to enhance Gemini 3.5 Pro, via reinforcement learning. Google usually saves its biggest product launches for its I/O conference every year. This time, CEO Sundar Pichai held back, and it says a lot about where the company stands in the AI coding race. During the keynote address, Pichai told the crowd that Google's new flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model wasn't ready yet, drawing groans from the crowd.I was there, and I've spent the rest of the event coming up with a theory for the apparent delay: Google is holding this new model back for a while to get it even better at AI coding tasks.Anthropic's Claude Code took the world by storm last year, and OpenAI's Codex has gotten much better recently. These frontier labs are scooping up developer mindshare and generating big revenue by enabling coders to use AI tools with agents to automate and speed up coding tasks.It's a revolution that's upending Silicon Valley, and Google was probably a bit behind. But not for long. Instead of releasing 3.5 Pro, Pichai spoke at length and with passion about another new model, the Gemini 3.5 Flash. This is a smaller model that's faster and a lot cheaper, while being only slightly less powerful than the world's current top models.Google has already made 3.5 Flash the main model powering its Antigravity AI coding service. Starting today, software developers will use this tool to churn out code.This will generate a mountain of anonymous and highly valuable data. For instance, if an engineer starts a new coding project in Antigravity and suddenly halts the task, it suggests that something in the output from Flash 3.5 wasn't right.Google can use this feedback data to improve the larger 3.5 Pro model, likely through reinforcement learning—a technique in which a new AI model is refined by rewarding good outputs and punishing bad outcomes.Signals from running Antigravity on the smaller 3.5 Flash model will likely help with this process in ...
Google unveils new Gemini models and AI capabilities - LinkedIn
Olivia Niland Olivia Niland Published May 19, 2026 Google announced an array of new AI models at its I/O developer conference Tuesday, including Gemini 3.5 Flash, which promises enhanced speed and affordability as the search giant competes with OpenAI and Anthropic. The 3.5 Flash model will become the default for search and the Gemini app. Google also introduced Gemini Spark, an AI agent designed to act on users' behalf, and Omni, a model for simulating physical environments. Other launches highlighted at the event include an AI-driven revamp of Google's search box, which hasn't changed in 25 years. Editors’ Picks Just off stage at Shoreline for this year’s I/O. It’s been 10 years since we first pivoted Google to be an AI-first company. People are looking to see the value of AI working in the products they use every day. We’re really focused on this, and at I/O we shared how we’re driving impact with advances across models, coding, and agents. A few highlights of what we launched: 👉 Gemini Omni, a new step in world models that can create anything from any input - starting with video. 👉 More ways to help you identify AI-generated content. Plus, we’re excited OpenAI, Kakao Corp, and ElevenLabs will join NVIDIA in adopting our SynthID watermark. 👉 Ask YouTube and Docs Live, bringing conversational AI to more products people use everyday. 👉 Gemini 3.5 Flash, the first in the series of 3.5 models, combining frontier intelligence with action. It’s comparable to the best models and very fast. We’re bringing Gemini 3.5 Flash to everyone across our products and APIs. 👉 Gemini Spark, your new personal agent in the Gemini app that gets stuff done on your behalf, under your direction. It runs 24/7, integrates seamlessly with tools (starting with ours), and soon you can work with through chat and email. 👉 We’re entering the era of Search agents as well as launching a new intelligent AI-powered Search box, our biggest upgrade in 25 years, rolling out globally. Plus so much more! A huge thank you to our teams, our developers, and our partners who are building the new agentic Gemini era with us. See everything we announced here: https://lnkd.in/g23D5U2M 17,498 followers 4h From AI agents to wearable tech, Google I/O 2026 was a major flex for the Gemini ecosystem. Nicole Petallides walks through what’s new, including Gemini Spark and Android-powered smart glasses arriving later this year. Google says enterprise and developer demand is ramping as tok...
Why Google held back a huge new AI model at its big conference
During the keynote address, Pichai told the crowd that Google's new flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model wasn't ready yet, drawing audible groans. I was there, and I've spent the rest of the event coming up with a theory for the apparent delay: Google is holding this new model back for a while to get it even better at AI coding tasks. Anthropic's Claude Code took the world by storm last year, and OpenAI's Codex has gotten much better recently. These frontier labs are scooping up developer mindshare and generating big revenue by enabling coders to use AI tools with agents to automate and speed up coding tasks. It's a revolution that's upending Silicon Valley, and Google was probably a bit behind. But not for long. Instead of releasing 3.5 Pro, Pichai spoke at length and with passion about another new model, the Gemini 3.5 Flash. This is a smaller model that's faster and a lot cheaper, while being only slightly less powerful than the world's current top models. Google has already made 3.5 Flash the main model powering its Antigravity AI coding service. Starting today, software developers will use this tool to churn out code. This will generate a mountain of anonymous and highly valuable data. For instance, if an engineer starts a new coding project in Antigravity and suddenly halts the task, itsuggests that something in the output from Flash 3.5 wasn't right. Google can use this feedback data to improve the larger 3.5 Pro model, likely through reinforcement learninga technique in which a new AI model is refined by rewarding good outputs and punishing bad outcomes. Signals from running Antigravity on the smaller 3.5 Flash model will likely help with this process in important ways. That's because coding is particularly good at generating clear signals for AI model development. If the code is good, it likely works. If it's bad, it often breaks stuff. This should give the larger 3.5 Pro model strong clues about which coding outputs worked and which didn't. "I know you can't wait to get your hands on it," Pichai said onstage. "Give us until next month to get it to you." So, when this big new model finally lands, I expect it to be a lot better at coding the hottest application of generative AI right now.
Google debuts AI model as it comes under pressure from coding rivals
(AP) — Google on Wednesday disclosed plans to infuse its dominant search engine with more advanced artificial-intelligence technology, a drive that's in ...
