Google Gemini 4 Carbon beats GPT-6 Astra and Claude on most benchmarks, but you can't try it yet - Firstpost

Title: Google Gemini 4 Carbon beats GPT-6 Astra and Claude on most benchmarks, but you can't try it yet

URL Source: https://news.google.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?oc=5

Markdown Content: Google says its latest AI model, Gemini 4 Carbon, outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 on most of 17 benchmarks. It also reports improvements in coding and safety. However, access is currently limited to selected cybersecurity researchers, with no confirmed public release date.

These results suggest Carbon is competitive across several demanding tasks, but they do not establish that it will outperform rivals in every real-world situation.

For now, access is restricted to approved cybersecurity defenders, with Google planning to add more trusted partners before expanding availability. The company has yet to provide a public launch date.

When Carbon reaches the API, Google says it will use Argon's introductory pricing: $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. Cached input tokens will cost 95 per cent less than the standard input rate.

Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 4 Carbon, is leading several performance tests against rival systems from OpenAI and Anthropic, according to figures released by the company. The model has also posted a higher score than Claude Opus 5.5 on an independent AI intelligence index. There is a catch though, most users cannot access it yet.

Google is initially making Carbon available to a small group of cybersecurity specialists through its Fairwind Programme. The company plans to widen access gradually, but has not announced when developers, businesses or consumers will be able to use the model.

The restricted launch comes as competition among leading AI developers intensifies. Google announced Gemini 4 Argon on September 30 and brought it to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers on October 13. OpenAI and Anthropic have also released newer models, leaving the companies competing for the top positions on AI leaderboards.