Google Announces Gemini 4 Flagship AI Model 'Argon' After Months of Delays
Key Takeaways
- •Google unveiled "Argon," a larger top-tier AI model that will anchor its Gemini 4 generation as the company attempts to catch up with Anthropic and OpenAI.
- •Google's self-reported benchmarks show Argon outperforming OpenAI's Astra and Anthropic's Opus on several industry metrics while trailing them on two of four coding benchmarks.
- •Access to Argon is currently limited to select cybersecurity partners and the US government through a voluntary pre-release program, with no timeline for public availability.
- •Google abandoned the previously promised Gemini 3.5 Pro, meaning its next major model advance will arrive under the Gemini 4 name instead.
- •Google overhauled its DeepMind lab, with founder Demis Hassabis stepping aside and several Gemini leaders departing, while rivals continued releasing new frontier models.
SAN FRANCISCO — Alphabet's Google on Wednesday announced a new top-tier artificial intelligence model to anchor its Gemini 4 generation of models, in a fresh bid to catch up to rivals Anthropic and OpenAI in the AI race.
The new model, named "Argon", is larger than Google's previous line of advanced "Pro" models, a company spokesperson said.
"It's our most performant model yet built for complex workloads, and we see it comparable to frontier models like (OpenAI's) Astra and (Anthropic's) Opus on key coding and cyber benchmarks," the spokesperson said.
Google said it is providing the model to select cybersecurity partners and is participating in the Trump administration's voluntary process for pre-release model access, which gives the government early access to models before they are released publicly. The company did not provide a timeline for the model's public release.
According to a company press release, Argon posted better marks than Astra and Opus in self-reported performance on several industry benchmarks. It nonetheless remained behind on certain other metrics, including two of the four coding-related benchmarks Google included in the release. Until Argon is available more broadly, those comparisons rest solely on Google's own reporting.
The spokesperson also said Google no longer plans to release Gemini 3.5 Pro, which CEO Sundar Pichai had originally said would be released in June. Scrapping the promised version means Google's next step forward will arrive under the Gemini 4 name instead.
In the months since, Google overhauled its DeepMind AI lab, with founder and CEO Demis Hassabis stepping aside and several leaders of its Gemini model effort leaving the company. The extended delays have left Google behind Anthropic and OpenAI, both of which continued to push the research frontier with new releases of their top models.
Mr. Pichai pushed back in July on the notion that Google was losing ground in the AI race. In recent months, however, Google has shifted its messaging from touting Gemini's cutting-edge capabilities to highlighting its cost advantage compared with competitor models.
— Reuters
