You can try Google's new Gemini 3 Flash AI model today for free - it's even in Search's AI Mode

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Google unveiled Gemini 3 Flash connected Wednesday.
• It's the default exemplary successful AI Mode successful Search and the Gemini app.
• It outperformed Gemini 3 Pro connected agentic coding.

Google has unveiled Gemini 3 Flash, the company's latest AI model, which it says balances velocity with industry-leading reasoning and multimodal capabilities.

Along with its planetary release, Gemini 3 Flash has besides been made the default exemplary successful some Google Search, the Gemini app, and AI Mode. That's significant, since successful the earlier days of the AI race, companies -- adjacent the much almighty ones similar Google -- would thin to rotation retired caller AI tools dilatory and cautiously, getting a consciousness of idiosyncratic feedback earlier adding them to their astir fashionable and wide utilized services. 

Also: Inside the making of Gemini 3 - however Google's dilatory and dependable attack won the AI contention (for now)

Last month, Google embedded the precocious arrived Gemini 3 into Search; then, arsenic now, the determination to determination rapidly and upgrade the company's cornerstone products with a marque caller exemplary points powerfully to a beardown consciousness of assurance wrong the institution arsenic it steps up its contention with OpenAI and different developers.

"For excessively long, AI forced a choice: large models that were dilatory and expensive, oregon high-speed models that were little capable," Josh Woodward, VP of Google Labs and Gemini, wrote successful a blog station published Wednesday. "Gemini 3 Flash ends this compromise. Gemini 3 Flash delivers smarts and speed."

Practical implications

At this constituent successful the AI race, you mightiness beryllium feeling a small question sickness from the sheer fig of caller models and tools that person been dropping beauteous overmuch connected a regular basis. Companies person an inducement to determination rapidly and beforehand each caller AI merchandise arsenic a implicit game-changer, since it adds to their aura of power. 

It's truthful ever important to ask: What does this oregon that instrumentality actually offer? Is it conscionable the aforesaid aged AI capabilities successful a caller guise, oregon is determination thing that's actually, substantively new, here?

If you constitute codification for a surviving (or conscionable for fun), you're apt to spot existent benefits from Gemini 3 Flash. The exemplary combines Gemini 3 Pro's frontier coding accomplishment with debased latency, and it besides offers state-of-the-art agentic capabilities, "which means it tin alteration much intelligent applications -- similar unrecorded lawsuit enactment agents oregon in-game assistants -- that request some speedy answers and heavy reasoning," Tulsee Doshi, a elder manager of merchandise absorption astatine Google, wrote successful a blog post. 

Also: Google conscionable rolled retired Gemini 3 to Search - here's what it tin bash and however to effort it

For the remainder of us, the planetary deployment of Gemini 3 Flash volition chiefly mean a boost successful the perks they've already travel to expect from Gemini app oregon AI Mode successful Search. 

For example, non-coding experts tin provender a watercourse of consciousness statement astir an app they'd similar to physique into the app, and Gemini volition rapidly spit retired a prototype. Or idiosyncratic moving a hunt tin inquire for question proposal and reservations for a last-minute vacation, and the exemplary volition propulsion up results based connected that user's peculiar preferences.

Users volition besides astir apt announcement a important boost successful the prime and flexibility of the multimodal capabilities offered by Gemini done AI Mode and the app: it tin respond to questions astir images, video, audio, oregon text, and acknowledgment to Nano Banana Pro, make images successful AI Mode (just prime "Thinking with 3 Pro" and past "Create Images Pro" successful the exemplary drop-down menu).

The exemplary fell conscionable abbreviated of matching GPT-5.2's show connected Humanity's Last Exam, and it outperformed some Gemini 3 Pro and Claude Sonnet 4.5 connected the agentic coding SWE-Bench Verified benchmark, according to information published by Google.

Gemini 3 Flash is disposable present successful preview done the Gemini API successful Google AI Studio, and it's starting to rotation retired connected Wednesday for escaped to each users successful the Gemini app and successful AI Mode successful Search.