New Google DeepMind chief says Gemini 4 is coming before end of 2026 as talent exits mount

Koray Kavukcuoglu, in his first media appearance since replacing Demis Hassabis in August, says Gemini 4 is in refinement and an early post-training version should ship well before year-end 2026, after the skipped Gemini 3.5 Pro left Google trailing OpenAI…

Koray Kavukcuoglu, who became head of Google DeepMind in August 2026 after Demis Hassabis stepped down, told The Information that Gemini 4 is in refinement and that Google wants to release an early post-training version well before the end of 2026, with fast iterations to follow. Google has not shipped a new flagship model since the Gemini 3 series in November 2025. A Gemini 3.5 Pro update that CEO Sundar Pichai said would arrive in June 2026 was never released; Kavukcuoglu said the company focused instead on faster Flash models. Both reports state that OpenAI's GPT-6 and Anthropic's Mythos, launched since Gemini 3, now outperform it; The Decoder additionally cites Anthropic's Fable and an updated Opus. The Decoder reports Gemini 3.5 Pro missed three deadlines, that Hassabis's exit was reportedly not fully voluntary, that high-profile departures include Noam Shazeer, John Jumper, and Jeff Dean with the hire-to-departure ratio falling from roughly 12:1 in Q2 2023 to 2:1 in Q3 2026, that all Gemini development is moving to the Bay Area, and that leadership is reframing the AGI debate around building trustworthy agents. The Verge does not corroborate these latter claims.

• Koray Kavukcuoglu made his first media appearance as head of Google DeepMind, telling The Information that Gemini 4 is in refinement (both reports, 2026-09-24).
• Google targets releasing an early post-training version of Gemini 4 'well before the end of 2026' (The Verge) / 'as soon as possible with fast iterations' (The Decoder).
• Google's last flagship release was the Gemini 3 series in November 2025.
• A Gemini 3.5 Pro update promised by CEO Sundar Pichai for June 2026 was never released; Kavukcuoglu said Google prioritized faster Flash models instead.
• The Decoder reports Gemini 3.5 Pro missed three deadlines before being abandoned.
• Both reports state OpenAI's GPT-6 and Anthropic's Mythos, launched since Gemini 3, outperform it; The Decoder also cites Anthropic's Fable and an updated Opus.
• Demis Hassabis stepped down as DeepMind lead in August 2026; The Decoder reports his exit was reportedly not fully voluntary.
• The Decoder reports departures including Noam Shazeer, John Jumper, and Jeff Dean, with DeepMind's hire-to-departure ratio falling from roughly 12:1 in Q2 2023 to 2:1 in Q3 2026.