Google releases three new Gemini models — but no 3.5 Pro
Google DeepMind has launched three new Gemini models focused on efficiency and cybersecurity, while delaying the release of its flagship 3.5 Pro model. The move reflects the company's strategy to compete with rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic in the AI agent market.
Why it matters
The rapid release cycle of AI models demonstrates the intense competition among tech giants to dominate the generative AI and coding assistance sectors.
On Tuesday, Google DeepMind released Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber. Gemini 3.6 Flash is Google’s “workhorse model” that promises improved capabilities in coding, knowledge work, and multimodal performance while reducing token usage by up to 17%, making it cheaper than its predecessor 3.5 Flash.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is the most cost-effective model in the class, and 3.5 Flash Cyber is a specialized model that was fine-tuned for finding and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities at a decent price point. This model will be exclusively available to governments and trusted partners as part of a limited access pilot program, according to Google.
Google says the focus on these releases is to deliver efficiency, latency, and reliability to customers that are building AI agents at scale.
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