Google announces three new Gemini AI models as competition with OpenAI and Anthropic heats up
Follow UsGemini 3.6 Flash promises stronger coding, reasoning and multimodal capabilities while reducing token usage by up to 17 percent.
Google also launched the budget-friendly Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and the cybersecurity-focused Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber.
The long-awaited Gemini 3.5 Pro update is still missing despite growing competition from OpenAI's GPT-5 and Anthropic's latest Claude models.
Google has unveiled three new additions to the Gemini AI models- Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber. These three models are aimed at developers building AI powered applications and autonomous agents. Google claims that these models are faster flagship models, a budget-friendly variant and a cybersecurity-focused offering.
SurveyAmong all the releases, the Gemini 3.6 Flash is the highlight. Google describes it as its primary production model for everyday AI workloads. The company says that the model delivers stronger performance in coding, reasoning, knowledge-intensive tasks and multimodal capabilities while consuming fewer output tokens than its predecessor. As per Google, the model reduces the overall token usage by around 17 percent, with some workloads seeing output token savings of up to 65 percent. The lower token consumption is expected to reduce operating costs for developers using the model at scale.
Along with this, Google has also introduced the Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite. The company says that it is the fastest and most affordable AI model. It is designed for lightweight workloads where response speed and lower costs are a priority over advanced reasoning.
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The third one is the Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber. It is a specialised model which is developed for cybersecurity applications. Unlike two releases, this version will not be widely available. Google stated that it will initially be offered only to government agencies and selected partners through a limited-access pilot programme. The model is designed to identify software vulnerabilities and assist in generating security fixes as part of Google’s AI-powered CodeMender initiative.
Interestingly, the company did not announce the much anticipated Gemini 3.5 Pro update. The company stated that it was falling short of internal goals specifically in terms of coding, which has emerged as a lucrative use case for enterprise AI. On the other hand, OpenAI has already expanded its GPT-5 lineup, while Anthropic has introduced newer Claude models with enhanced reasoning and coding capabilities.
Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite are now rolling out to enterprise customers and Gemini app users, with Flash-Lite also expected to power parts of Google Search in the future.
