# Google says Gemini 4 is coming: what happened and why it matters

> Google says Gemini 4 has entered post-training, aiming to ship before year end.

*A quick look at Google DeepMind's update on its next flagship AI model.*

By The FeaturedDaily Desk · FeaturedDaily
Canonical: https://featureddaily.com/news/gemini-4-briefing

**What happened:** Google DeepMind chief executive Koray Kavukcuoglu said on 23 September that Gemini 4 has entered post-training — the safety-testing and fine-tuning stage before public release — and is already powering Google's internal Antigravity coding tool.

**The timing:** Google wants to release Gemini 4 well before the end of 2026, [Kavukcuoglu said](https://9to5google.com/2026/09/24/google-says-gemini-4-release-is-coming-as-soon-as-possible/), though no firm date has been set.

**The context:** these were Kavukcuoglu's first public comments since taking over DeepMind's leadership in August, when Demis Hassabis stepped back to chair the unit and became Alphabet's chief scientist.

**The background:** Google's last flagship was Gemini 3 Pro in November 2025, followed by Gemini 3.1 Pro in February 2026. A Gemini 3.5 Pro model, announced at I/O in May, never shipped, [per The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/gemini-4-release-kavukcuoglu-post-training).

**The pause explained:** Kavukcuoglu said Google eased off its flagship pace for a period to focus on smaller Flash models, including Gemini 3.8 Flash, released in September.

**The competitive pressure:** the comments follow Anthropic and OpenAI both launching new flagship models — Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Sol and Luna — on the same day, 22 September.

**The quote:** Kavukcuoglu said, "in my mind, it's a certainty that we are always gonna be at the frontier."

**What's missing:** Google has not published a model ID, pricing or model card for Gemini 4 yet, leaving key launch details unconfirmed.

**Why it matters:** the update is Google's clearest signal yet that a long-awaited flagship model is finally approaching release, after an earlier attempt, Gemini 3.5 Pro, stalled without shipping at all.

**What is post-training:** it's the stage after a model first learns from data, covering safety checks, behaviour guardrails and fine-tuning, and is usually the last major step before a public launch.

**Internal testing:** running Gemini 4 inside Antigravity gives Google real usage data ahead of launch, a normal step for a company this size before a wide public release.

**The leadership angle:** this is Kavukcuoglu's first public statement as DeepMind's chief, putting his own credibility behind Gemini 4's timeline as the company's new leader.

**Unanswered:** Google has not said how long post-training will take, or which products will get Gemini 4 first once it does launch.

**The rival context:** Anthropic and OpenAI have already shipped their newest flagships, leaving Google's own next major model as the one still to prove itself in public.

**The prior stumble:** a Gemini 3.5 Pro model, announced at Google's I/O event in May, was never actually released, making this the company's second attempt at a major flagship jump this year.

**No firm date:** Google described the target only as well before the end of 2026, without naming a month or quarter, so it should be read as intent rather than a confirmed schedule.

## Key takeaways

- Gemini 4 has entered post-training and already powers Google's internal Antigravity coding tool.
- Google wants to release it before the end of 2026, with no firm date yet.
- The update follows Anthropic and OpenAI both launching flagship models on 22 September.

## Sources

- [Google says Gemini 4 release is coming 'as soon as possible'](https://9to5google.com/2026/09/24/google-says-gemini-4-release-is-coming-as-soon-as-possible/) — 9to5Google, 2026-09-24
- [Gemini 4 is in post-training and could ship before the end of 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/gemini-4-release-kavukcuoglu-post-training) — The Next Web, 2026-09-24