Tag: google

Google releases Gemini 3.8 Flash & Cyber — inching towards the frontier

Especially the Cyber version outpaces the frontiers at a fraction of the cost. (Picture: Google/generated)
Less than three weeks after releasing Gemini 3.7 Flash, its successor is already here. 3.8 Flash excels at analytical legal and financial tasks in benchmarks, outperforming the bigger frontier models.

It slots in with 59 points on Artificial Analysis, between GLM-5.3 and DeepSeek V4, and they note it is fairly cheap ($0.75/1M in/$3.75 out), fast and verbose.

3.8 Flash uses more tokens and does more work even on simple queries than 3.7-Flash, so as a stopgap, 3.7 will continue to be available on the Gemini app and API.

Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber is the star of this release, however, and shows performance slightly beating the biggest frontier models on CyberGym at a much lower cost.

It is currently used in protecting Google’s own code, where it doesn’t just discover vulnerabilities, it also helps to write the patches for the solution.

Gemini 3.8 Flash is available today for most of the Gemini ecosystem to paying subscribers. The Cyber variant is only available to «trusted defenders.»

Read more: Google’s presentation The Verge, Ars Technica, and 9to5Google. Discussion on Hacker News and r/Singularity.

Google debuts «workhorse model» Gemini 3.7 Flash, just weeks after 3.6

Gemini’s latest «workhorse model» does well in coding and web dev, but is not on the frontier. (Picture: Google/generated)
After a management shakeup and worries over coding capabilities, Google is out with a new, fast mid-tier model that looks quite capable.

Gemini 3.7 Flash specifically addresses coding («strong gains»), web development («generates more functional layouts») and knowledge work («significantly outperforms 3.6 Flash»).

On Google’s selected benchmarks, it beats Claude Sonnet 5 (not to be confused with the more capable Opus 5) more often than not, goes toe to toe with GPT-5.6 Terra, and handily beats the previous generation, sometimes by a lot.

The Artificial Analysis index puts it just ahead of yesterday’s DeepSeek V4 Pro but behind Grok 4.6 and Muse Spark 1.2 and well below the larger frontier models.

Pricing is also favorable at $0.75/1M input tokens and $3.75/1M out as an «introductory price» lasting out the year, returning to $1.50 in and $7.50 out in 2027.

It is available as a «workhorse model» in Google’s developer tools, the API, enterprise platform and in Spark for Pro and Ultra subscribers in «supported countries,» meaning that the Spark agent isn’t available in Europe.

Read more: Google’s announcement, X post. Writeups on Axios, Ars Technica, and 9to5Google. Discussion on Hacker News and r/Singularity.

Google’s Gemini hits 1 billion monthly active users in apps and on the web

Gemini’s billion users only counts the ones using the app, not the myriad of connected services. (Picture: Google/generated)
Sundar Pichai just announced the new milestone, up from 950 million in July and 450 million a year before that. It’s the fastest growing Google service ever, and joins a host of 14 products crossing this line.

Gemini has grown steadily since 2025, according to web statistics service SimilarWeb, and now holds a 26.8% market share of web traffic to AI services, compared to ChatGPT’s 54.8% and Claude’s 9.7%.

On the occasion, Google’s Gemini VP Josh Woodward shared some usage tidbits, saying that 63% of interactions are from people using voice to talk to Gemini, and that 1 in 5 users use live camera feeds and screen sharing.

Gemini also generates over 150 million images every day, used more by businesses for marketing than for creating funny memes. Uploading attachments seems very popular by students, who do it 38% of the time.

Gemini is also plastered all over Google’s products and services in Workspaces, Google Search and all across Android. On Android, it can automate over 40 apps, which the EU is looking into, and they disclosed in 2025 that AI Overviews have over 2 billion monthly users. This headline number is however limited to the Gemini app and web service exclusively.

For comparison, OpenAI likely passed one billion weekly users in June 2026.

Read more: Sundar Pichai’s X post, Josh Woodward’s tidbits. Writeups on 9to5Google, The Verge, and Ars Technica.

1,134 employees and chiefs of top labs sign petition to «pace the frontier»

The frontier labs think we need more time to develop laws and systems before AI begins improving on itself. (Picture generated)
— AI could help create a dramatically better future, but that outcome is not guaranteed, the petition ominously opens, before warning that leading frontier labs are «close to automating AI research.»

That would radically speed up development of frontier models, but it could also «accelerate beyond our ability to understand and control the resulting systems.»

The petition is signed by top names, including Anthropic boss Dario Amodei, followed by chief scientists from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Google DeepMind along with over 1,100 other employees from frontier labs. Even OpenAI’s Sam Altman is agreeing, though he doesn’t sign petitions, and official X accounts for Anthropic and OpenAI have posted in support.

The petition’s main point is that industry, government and the society at large needs more time to «address emerging risks, develop security measures, and strengthen oversight.»

Continue reading “1,134 employees and chiefs of top labs sign petition to «pace the frontier»”

Google user data: AI use hits 99% of occupations, but only 21% of tasks

Google finds most people use AI outside of work, and aren’t unlocking its full potential. (Picture: Adobe)
Google’s new AI usage study finds that AI has proliferated widely, but few (10%) are using it to automate tasks at work. Instead, it is mostly being used for collaboration and task assistance.

The ATLAS survey spans 15 million anonymized interactions with Google’s AI tools, used by around a billion people each month. It spans 150 countries, 140 languages, 800 occupations and 4,000 tasks.

The main point is that AI use at work is prevalent but «shallow,» meaning it is typically only used for 21% of tasks. It also finds that white-collar workers aren’t dominating AI like previously thought, with physical, manual and technical occupations showing strong use, using it for help with things like troubleshooting.

Home usage might be the biggest surprise of the survey, as over 86% of AI interactions happen «outside of work,» where people use it for researching purchases, help with appliances and tools, as well as navigating issues like taxes, licensing and fines, Google finds.

The ATLAS survey will be a long-term project for Google, they say, and will be used to track AI usage on an ongoing basis. «There are many more questions around AI and the economy where more work will be needed,» they write.

Read more: Google’s presentation, The research paper, Axios, and Fox Business.

Google attacks cost, efficiency and cyber with three new Gemini models

Gemini’s new cyber model is getting a limited release: (Picture: Google, GPT)
As Google reveals that Gemini has 950 million monthly users, they are releasing some new models. The long-awaited flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro is not one of them, as it has been postponed for performance reasons, particularly in coding capabilities.

The new models focus on cost and efficiency, particularly the Gemini 3.6 Flash, which reduces token use by 17% and as much as 65% in some benchmarks. It is also much less pricey, coming in at $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 in output.

3.5 Flash-Lite is built for faster agents, improving on 3.0 Flash in some cases and ticking in at 350 output tokens per second. It is also competitively priced, at $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50/M for output.

Finally, Google is launching their first cyber model. 3.5 Flash Cyber is made for finding security vulnerabilities. It can detect, validate and patch security issues «at scale,» Google says, and is offered at a much lower cost than «larger models.» It is only available to governments and «trusted partners» as a limited access pilot program, just like Anthropic’s Mythos and GPT Cyber.

Despite not launching a new top model, Google is reporting strong growth of it’s Gemini offerings, outgrowing every other business segment with 82%, and they say it is used by 90% of the Fortune 100 companies.

Read more: Google’s introduction, DeepMind on Cyber, Sundar Pichai’s X post. Writeups on 9to5Google and CNBC.

If Gemini can do it, other Android assistants should, too, the EU rules

ANdroid will be forced to open up to rival AI assistants in Europe, The Commission has ruled. (Picture: generated)
Under the Digital Markets Act of the European Union, the European Commission has ruled that Google must open its Android system to rival AI services.

After launching a consultation in April, this ruling is binding and considered EU law, and Google has almost precisely one year to implement the changes.

The changes are broad and reach across Android, from demanding that other assistants should be voice-activated like «Hey, Gemini» to giving other AIs broad system access to software, hardware and sensors on the phone.

Continue reading “If Gemini can do it, other Android assistants should, too, the EU rules”

German court holds Google liable for AI Overview responses

AI Overviews aren’t qoutes from websites, and are therefore original expressions, the court found. (Picture: Shutterstock)
In the first ruling on liability for AI search functions, the Regional Court of Munich held that the feature is an expression of Google itself, and it is therefore responsible for outputs that defame or spread false information, The Decoder reports.

The issue was two German publishers who were accused of fraudulent practices by AI Overviews that were not supported by the underlying links, and therefore counted as Google’s «own statements,» the court found.

The publishers sent a cease and desist letter to the search engine that got ignored, resulting in the lawsuit asking for Google to remove the statements, which was upheld.

The previous interpretation was that search engines merely quoted their sources before sending the user on, and full liability for this would ruin Google’s functionality.

AI Overviews, however, generate «independent, new, and substantive statements,» the court said, which are not necessarily supported by the underlying data — and are not needed for the search engine to function.

According to the NY Times, Google’s Gemini 3 model is inaccurate around 9% of the time and includes wrong links 56% of the time, resulting in millions of wrong answers every day, Ars Technica writes.

Read more: The Decoder, Ars Technica, and Engadget.

Installs of DuckDuckGo are soaring amid Google’s AI search push

DuckDuckGo has become popular with the anti-AI crowd. (Picture: generated)
Google has made it clear that they are no longer a search company, but an AI company — further expanding AI Mode, extending AI overviews, and changing the iconic search box. Some people aren’t having it.

One practical effect of this can be seen in downloads of alternative search engine DuckDuckGo, which have greatly increaesed in the last few weeks, TechCrunch writes.

From May 20 to May 25, just after Google unveiled a new search box, weekly installs went up 18.1%, peaking at 30% on May 25. It grew even stronger on iOS, peaking at 70% week on week in the same period.

— Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg tells TechCrunch, — We want to be the place that puts users in charge and allows them to decide how much or how little AI they want.

The search engine does use some AI to filter out images, and offers an AI chat product at duck.ai, but is famously privacy-focused, doesn’t store a thing, and also provides the AI-free noai.duckduckgo.com.

Go read the full story at TechCrunch

Recapping Google I/O: New Gemini, video generator and search box

Google I/O produced a flurry of AI announcements, as expected, and since it’s hard to keep up with everything they launched, here is a small recap.

Read on for the news in short on the new Gemini, the Omni video model, new subscription plans, the Gemini Spark agent and the revamped search box…

Continue reading “Recapping Google I/O: New Gemini, video generator and search box”

Google reimagines the mouse pointer with AI-enabled commands

Commands are simple once the mouse knows where it is pointing. (Picture: Google)
The common mouse pointer hasn’t changed in half a century, Google says — so it has infused it with context-aware AI to let you simply speak to it.

The general idea is to have an AI system be aware of where or what you are pointing at, and then use the microphone on your computer to give simple commands without careful prompting.

This should allow for easier AI interactions like «show me directions» when looking at a building, or «book a table» while hovering over a restaurant.

This sort of pointer needs the OS or app to be context-aware, and there is no system like this yet. It is, however, rolling out in Gemini in Chrome «starting today,» and will roll out «soon» as Magic Pointer, a major feature of the freshly announced Googlebook.

It is also available to test in AI Studio, where you can use it to edit an image or find places on a map. Do note that the system uses your microphone.

Read more: Google’s blog, 9to5Google.

The European Union starts process to open up Android to AI competitors

Gemini is basically enjoying a monopoly for integrated system access on Android. The EU wants to change that. (Picture: generated)
Google has been aggressively implementing AI and Gemini on its platforms, such as web search — and Android. Right now, Gemini is basically the only AI with system access on the platform, and the EU sees room for improvement.

Under the Digital Markets Act, Google isn’t just another vendor — it’s one of seven dominant platforms, deemed «gatekeepers» to other services. That means it has to behave like a platform, like Windows, and offer equal access to its services.

The European Commission lists letting competing AI assistants have easy access to functions like sending emails, sharing and editing photos — and have system level access to control apps. It should also provide Android API access and support for free, they say.

Continue reading “The European Union starts process to open up Android to AI competitors”

Google signs on to Pentagon contract for classified work

All top labs except Anthropic are now available to the Department of War. (Picture: Shutterstock)
Joining OpenAI and xAI, Google’s contract follows the controversial «all lawful government use» rules for classified work at the DoD, The Information (paywalled) was first to report.

The contract is quoted by Reuters to include specific language against use for «domestic mass surveillance» and autonomous weapons «without appropriate human oversight and control,» but Google doesn’t get to second guess or outright ban this usage of their models, The Verge reports.

Anthropic famously defected from its Pentagon contract over precisely these issues, but OpenAI quickly signed on to a contract with better language.

Rumors of a coming deal sparked protest internally at Google, with 600 Googlers signing a letter demanding that Google refuse any classified use, as they also did over Israel contracts.

Read more: The Information (paywalled), Reuters, The Verge, and TechCrunch.

Google to invest up to $40 billion in rival/partner Anthropic

Google and Anthropic are rivals in the chatbot arena, but partners in compute. (Picture: Anthropic)
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has reached an agreement to initially invest $10 billion in Anthropic, increasing to $40 billion on reaching «performance targets,» Reuters reports.

The deal comes hot on the heels of Amazon’s investment of $25 billion this week, also contingent on «commercial milestones.»

Google’s investment comes as Anthropic is seeking to expand its compute capacity after several reports of throttling and downtime for its Claude service, amid rising popularity.

Earlier this month, Google and Broadcom secured a «partnership» with significant compute for Anthropic, as the company announced it had hit a $30 billion annualized run-rate revenue.

Read more: Reuters, CNBC, and TechCrunch.

Google’s AI Overview is wrong tens of millions of times per hour, NYT finds

Google gets it right more often than not, but 1 in 10 queries result in errors. (Picture: Adobe)
Sure, the measured accuracy by AI lab Oumi ticks in at a decent 90% — but when you scale it up to the sheer mass of Google’s traffic of more than five trillion searches per year, you get mind-boggling numbers of hundreds of thousands of «inaccuracies» per minute, the New York Times writes.

The test, conducted on the Gemini 3 generation of AI Overviews, was made using the SimpleQA dataset intended to probe for chatbot accuracy. It contains more than 4,000 questions with real, verifiable answers, that was made by OpenAI in 2024, Ars Technica reports.

Google’s AI answer machine pops up on every query these days, but it is difficult to tell precisely which model it uses for each task. For simple web searches, it might well opt for one of the faster Flash models rather than the more advanced Pro. It might also give different answers to the same question just milliseconds apart.

Google also doesn’t like the measurement being used, telling the NYT that «This study has serious holes. It doesn’t reflect what people are actually searching on Google.»

Read more: New York Times, Ars Technica.