Google released Gemini 4 Argon, a new flagship model it says matches or beats OpenAI and Anthropic on numerous benchmarks, following months in which Google had appeared to fall behind despite Gemini 3's earlier launch. Meta also unveiled a frontier model it claims can compete with the industry's best, marking a sharp turnaround after a period of internal upheaval at Google including departures of Jeff Dean and Demis Hassabis stepping back from DeepMind leadership.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-14
Google has updated its support documentation to limit which Gemini models free and AI Plus ($4.99/month) subscribers can use. Free users will be restricted to Gemini 3.5-Flash-Lite, losing access to Gemini 3.6 Flash and newer models, while AI Plus subscribers will lose access to Gemini 3.1 Pro and other reasoning models, retaining only Flash and Flash-Lite variants. The changes take effect on October 9th and do not affect AI Pro or Ultra subscribers, who retain full access including a Deep Thinking option.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-10-05
A hands-on comparison of ChatGPT Voice and Gemini Live found both offer real-time spoken responses with multiple voice options, powered respectively by OpenAI's GPT models and Google's Gemini models. The tester noted ChatGPT Voice speaks with more expressive, human-like verbal quirks like stutters and filler sounds, while Gemini Live sounds flatter. ChatGPT Voice was also observed searching the internet more readily, correctly identifying a recent Gemini release that Gemini Live itself denied existed.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-27
Google has released Live Avatar for Gemini Enterprise users, a tool that pairs a lip-synced video avatar with its conversational AI agent to handle tasks like insurance claims over video chat. The feature can process live audio, screen sharing and video simultaneously while running backend tools and API calls, and follows the recent rollout of Gemini 3.8 Live and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-25
Google has released Live Avatar, a new addition to its Gemini 3.8 Live and Live Extended Thinking models that pairs real-time video personas with the platform's voice dialogue capabilities. The avatars can lip-sync, show facial expressions, and hold fluid conversations while using Gemini's reasoning to fetch data and trigger tool calls mid-dialogue. The feature is limited to Gemini Enterprise customers, who can choose from preset avatars or build custom ones from reference images via enterprise allowlisting, with all output watermarked using Google's SynthID.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-25
Google has launched Live Avatar, a feature within Gemini 3.8 Live that pairs real-time video generation with speech models to give AI agents lip-synced, expressive on-screen personas. The avatars support 97 languages, can switch between them without quality loss, and use asynchronous tool calling to fetch data mid-conversation. The feature launches today exclusively for Gemini Enterprise subscribers, not general consumers.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-24
Google has launched Live Avatar, a feature within its Gemini 3.8 Live model that renders an animated persona with lip-syncing and facial expressions during real-time conversations. The feature currently works across the 97 languages Gemini supports without losing video quality, and can display on-screen information while speaking. It is available only to Gemini Enterprise customers, who can choose from preset avatars or build custom ones.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-24
Google has released Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS and Flash-Lite TTS, new text-to-speech models that can generate custom voices from text descriptions, replicate a voice from a 30-second sample with permission, and follow directions for accent, pacing, emotion and multi-speaker dialogue. The models support over 100 languages and more than 2,000 ready-made voices, and are rolling out in Gemini Notebook and Google Vids as well as to developers via Google AI Studio and the Gemini API.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-24
Google now lets anyone with a personal or Workspace account use Google Vids to create 1080p videos powered by its Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash-Lite model, free of charge. The feature is accessible via vids.new by selecting 'Create AI videos,' though Google hasn't specified any usage limits for free accounts, and generated videos carry a SynthID watermark. Google also announced plans to add Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite text-to-speech for voiceovers, supporting over 100 languages.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-23
Google has launched Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS and Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS, new speech generation models supporting over 100 languages. The models ranked first and second respectively on Hume AI's Overall Quality Index, with Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS also topping Hume AI's Voice Design Benchmark and its accent modeling category. Google says the models improve on long-form content and dual-speaker screenplay control compared to the prior Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS.
blog.google
· 2026-09-23
Google unveiled two new Gemini models focused on real-time voice interaction: Gemini 3.8 Live, designed for scalable, cost-efficient conversational AI, and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, aimed at complex multi-step reasoning tasks. Both models are meant to power more natural voice agents and improve spoken interactions across the Gemini app, Google Workspace, and Search.
blog.google
· 2026-09-15
Conway's Arcade is a modernized arcade cabinet that doesn't run classic pre-programmed games, but instead uses Google's Gemini 3.0 AI model to create games and their underlying rules in real time. The project has been named a winner in Fast Company's 2026 Innovation by Design Awards.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-14
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