Google DeepMind Chief Says Gemini 4 Is in Final Refinement, Targeting Launch Before End of 2026
Koray Kavukcuoglu says Google plans to release an early Gemini 4 post-training output as soon as possible, ahead of its end-2026 target. It follows Gemini 3’s November 2025 launch and the skipped rollout of a promised Gemini 3.5 Pro update.
Google is nearing the release of Gemini 4, its next flagship AI model, according to Koray Kavukcuoglu, the new head of Google’s DeepMind division. Kavukcuoglu made the announcement in September 2026 during his first media appearance in the role, speaking with The Information.
Kavukcuoglu said Gemini 4 is currently in its refinement stage and that Google intends to launch it “much earlier” than the end of the year. “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,” he told the publication, adding that Google would “continue the fast-paced iterations” going forward.
The announcement comes after a prolonged gap in Google’s flagship AI releases. The company’s last major model, the Gemini 3 series, launched in November 2025. In the months since, OpenAI released GPT-6 and Anthropic launched its Mythos series — both of which outperform Gemini 3 and have given those companies a lead over Google. A planned Gemini 3.5 Pro update, which Google CEO Sundar Pichai had promised at the May I/O event for a June release, was never rolled out. Kavukcuoglu acknowledged that the company “took a little bit of a step back” to focus on faster, less powerful Flash models instead.
The leadership context adds further weight to the update. Former DeepMind AI head Demis Hassabis stepped down in August 2026 after stating that “great progress” was being made on Gemini 4, leaving Kavukcuoglu to take over the division. When asked whether Google was falling behind rivals, Kavukcuoglu was direct: “In my mind, it’s a certainty that we are always gonna be at the frontier.”
A faster and more consistent release cadence from Google, if realized, could narrow the gap with competitors that have pulled ahead during the company’s extended pause on flagship model launches.