Google Replaces Gemini 3.8 Flash With Gemini 4 Hydrogen, Claiming 2.5x Speed Gain
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Nov 12
Google Replaces Gemini 3.8 Flash With Gemini 4 Hydrogen, Claiming 2.5x Speed Gain
3 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Nov 12
Summary
Gemini 4 Hydrogen has gone live immediately across Google products, replacing Gemini 3.8 Flash rather than following the limited, staged access used for recent Argon and Carbon launches.
Google says the model is 2.5 times faster than 3.8 Flash even in high thinking mode, while cutting fabricated claims by more than 5x.
Hydrogen also adds four thinking levels — including a new xhigh mode — and more than triples Flash’s Terminal-Bench code-generation score.
On broader capability tests, Hydrogen reached 54 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index in xhigh mode versus 50 for Argon, suggesting the cheaper mainstream model is closing the gap with Google’s higher-tier systems.
Search is already using Hydrogen globally to improve handling of complex queries, typos and visual responses, extending the upgrade to Google’s widest user base.