Google’s next big AI rollout is imminent. It could cement a turnaround that’s been three years in the making.
Gemini 3.0, the company’s next large language model, is expected to drop very soon. Company employees are teasing it. CEO Sundar Pichai has said it will be out by the end of the year. Brace for impact.
Anticipation has reached fever pitch on X and in various Discord channels, where AI truthers are convinced Gemini 3 is already out in the wild. Google has a history of testing its models semi-secretly, so this might not be a total conspiracy.
But it’s not just them. Gemini 3 is the name on lips across the AI industry, which is waiting to see what Google pulls out of the hat. Expectations are high that Gemini 3 will be better at coding and multimedia generation (a better version of Nano Banana, Google’s viral image tool, is expected to be part of the new model).
Since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, the narrative surrounding Google has been one of a sleepy incumbent playing catch-up. There was truth to that. Facing its first existential threat in a long time, Google quickly pivoted teams in an effort to push generative AI into many of its top products.
In the time since, the drowsy giant has sprung to life. Gemini users are soaring. AI has (so far) not rocked Google’s advertising cash cow. Calls for Pichai to resign have quietened.
Google has been playing catch-up
To catch up, Google has tapped its “full-stack” advantage: It not only builds the models, but also has distribution channels through its products, plus infrastructure from its cloud business.
That’s how Google has largely stayed out of the increasingly tangled web of AI companies that are tapping each other for help and fueling fears of a bubble.
Google also has a huge open goal in front of it. OpenAI’s highly anticipated ChatGPT 5 landed this year with more of a fizz than a bang. Was it simply a signal that AI was hitting its “boring” era? Or did OpenAI no longer have the juice?
If Gemini 3 is a smash hit — and right now, insiders tell Business Insider that the new model is extremely impressive — then it could give Google a shot at taking the top spot, a position it has been vying to reclaim since the generative AI boom began.
That would be a bad scenario for OpenAI, which doesn’t have the stack Google has and has so far stayed ahead in the race thanks largely to a first-mover advantage and many industry alliances.
Google still has a brand problem to solve. ChatGPT is still the “Kleenex” of AI — the first name that often springs to mind when talking about the technology. It is to chatbots what “Google” became to online search.
It’s also got a lot of catching up to do with OpenAI for users. Google said its Gemini app has hit 650 million monthly active users, while ChatGPT has about 800 million weekly active users.
Gemini’s growing popularity among younger users will help, but there’s still a large gap to close.
The company’s yearslong bets on cloud, chips, and researchers are finally paying off. If Gemini 3 is a smash hit, Google just has to not fumble it.
No pressure.
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