Google announces Gemini 4 flagship AI model after months of delays
Google announced Argon, its largest top-tier model yet and the flagship of its Gemini 4 generation, after months of delays. It has not provided a public release timeline and is making the model available to select cybersecurity partners.
1. New flagship model
Google said Argon is larger than its previous advanced Pro models and is designed for complex workloads. A company spokesperson said it was comparable to OpenAI’s Astra and Anthropic’s Opus on key coding and cybersecurity benchmarks.
2. Benchmark results and rollout
Google said Argon scored better than Astra and Opus on several industry benchmarks, but lagged on some other metrics, including two of four coding-related benchmarks in the company’s release. Google is providing the model to select cybersecurity partners and participating in the Trump administration’s voluntary process for pre-release model access; it gave no timeline for public release.
3. Delays and leadership changes
Google no longer plans to release Gemini 3.5 Pro, which CEO Sundar Pichai had originally said would arrive in June. During the intervening months, Google overhauled its DeepMind AI lab, founder and CEO Demis Hassabis stepped aside, and several Gemini model leaders left the company.
