Gemini 4 is almost ready, says new Google DeepMind chief

Google is nearing the launch of its Gemini 4 model, according to Koray Kavukcuoglu, the new chief of Google's DeepMind division, speaking in his first media appearance with The Information. Kavukcuoglu said Gemini 4 is in its refinement stage and Google aims to release it "much earlier" than the end of the year, adding that the company will "continue the fast-paced iterations" going forward. This marks a potential return to a more consistent AI release timeline following a leadership shakeup at DeepMind, with former AI head Demis Hassabis stepping down in August after noting that "great progress" was being made on Gemini 4. Google hasn't released a new flagship AI model since the Gemini 3 series in November 2025. Meanwhile, OpenAI's GPT-6 and Anthropic's Mythos series models have launched, both outperforming Gemini 3 and giving rival providers a sizable lead in the AI race. Google CEO Sundar Pichai promised a major Gemini 3.5 Pro update in June at the I/O event in May, but the model was never released. Kavukcuoglu explained that the company "took a little bit of a step back" to focus on introducing faster, less powerful Flash models instead. When asked whether he was concerned about Google falling behind rivals, he responded that "In my mind, it's a certainty that we are always gonna be at the frontier."

(Source：The Verge)