Google is reportedly nearing the launch of its long-awaited Gemini 4 model, after dawdling behind rival developers on flagship AI releases. Speaking with The Information during his first media appearance as the leader of Google’s DeepMind division, Koray Kavukcuoglu said that Gemini 4 is currently in its refinement stage, and that the company is aiming to launch the model 'much earlier' than the end of the year.

Gemini 4 is almost ready, says new Google DeepMind chief. The new frontier AI model should arrive long before the end of 2026. 'Our intention is to, like — as soon as possible — to release an early post-training output because we see the results and we are excited,' Kavukcuoglu told the publication, adding that Google would 'continue the fast-paced iterations' going forward. This hopefully marks Google returning to a more consistent AI release timeline following a shakeup at DeepMind’s top leadership, with former AI head Demis Hassabis stepping down in August after announcing 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. OpenAI’s GPT-6 and Anthropic’s Mythos series models have launched since then. Both outperform Gemini 3 and give the rival AI providers a sizable lead against Google in the AI race. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said at the I/O event in May that a major Gemini 3.5 Pro update would be coming in June to help bridge the gap, but the model was never rolled out.

Kavukcuoglu said the company 'took a little bit of a step back' to focus on introducing faster, less powerful Flash models instead of releasing Gemini 3.5 Pro. When asked whether he was concerned about Google falling behind its rivals on AI development, he told The Information that 'In my mind, it’s a certainty that we are always gonna be at the frontier.'