Google CEO Pichai announced during the Q2 2026 earnings call that the next-generation frontier model, Gemini 4, has officially begun training, with Google committing substantial resources. Based on Google’s historical release cadence, Gemini 4 is expected to launch in November or December this year. Pichai acknowledged that Gemini still lags behind competitors in programming and agent capabilities, facing pressure from the rapid iterations of Claude and OpenAI. He positioned Gemini 4 as the key product to close this gap and expressed satisfaction with the current training progress. The release of Gemini 4 by year-end will be the most significant highlight in the 2026 AI large model competition.Author and source: AIBase
According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai during the Q2 2026 earnings call, the next-generation frontier model, Gemini 4, has officially begun training, with Google allocating “substantial resources” to the effort. Based on Google’s historical release timeline, the industry widely expects Gemini 4 to be officially unveiled in November or December of this year.
Admitting that programming and agents are lagging, we look to Gemini 4 to catch up with the cutting edge.
Notably, the previously planned June release of Gemini 3.5 Pro did not occur, raising external questions about Google’s model iteration pace. In response to sharp inquiries from analysts about whether Google can maintain its industry leadership, Pichai acknowledged that the frontier model landscape is highly dynamic and the competitive environment is rapidly evolving. However, he emphasized that Google has already launched multiple industry-leading models and continues to hold advantages across multiple dimensions.
Pichai did not avoid acknowledging Google’s current shortcomings—he admitted that Gemini still lags in key areas such as programming and agents, and that the team is highly focused on closing these gaps. He positioned Gemini 4 as a critical step toward bridging these gaps, expressing great satisfaction with the current training progress and believing that user experience will deliver a satisfying outcome. Given Anthropic’s continued leadership in programming with its Claude series and OpenAI’s accelerated iteration, whether Gemini 4 can fulfill Pichai’s promises by year-end will be the biggest highlight of the 2026 AI large model showdown.