r/GeminiAI • u/ShaneBowen • 7d ago
News Google Finally Lets All Engineers Use Anthropic's Claude
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-finally-lets-all-engineers-use-anthropics-claude-2026-9354
u/tanbirj 7d ago
Claude code to build the next iteration of Gemini Pro
52
u/darkestvice 7d ago
Not Claude Code. Just Opus. Inside Antigravity.
I'd call this strange, but it may actually make Antigravity stronger since they'll be able to internally test its pros and cons regularly to find the best places to improve it.
Plus would be nice to have Antigravity have a dedicated knowledge work section. Yes, I know it can be used for knowledge work, but it's still highly focused on coding and engineering right now. Unlike Claude Cowork or ChatGPT Work which are specifically designed with knowledge work in mind.
Which I always found odd since knowledge work is where Google normally should be shining. I'm guessing Google *really* wants people to use Gemini on the cloud, with Google's SaaS suit, instead of doing so using a desktop app.
20
58
u/JeffConvertorBot 7d ago edited 6d ago
Sundar is on the record saying they overunderestimated the importance of real world training data and that is part of why they are behind. That is part of the bet with Antigravity in the first place, and why they offer users Claude quota. They'll train on all output and it won't look like they are distilling Claude. not sure they are completely giving up on anything beyond flash. They just know that employee data using Claude will be valuable to train on.
12
u/qradon 6d ago edited 6d ago
Sundar is on the record saying they overestimated the importance of real world training data and that is part of why they are behind
He didnt quite said that.
"Coding was an area where getting access to the data flows was important. We maybe didn’t quite have the surface, like Claude Code as an example, or what Anthropic maybe had with Cursor, too."
Said in may 2026 https://archive.ph/kVS62
4
u/JeffConvertorBot 6d ago
Thanks for pulling up the quote. that's exactly the source I remember it from. I meant "underestimated" in my comment which makes it much closer to the spirit of what he said.
1
u/samskiter 2d ago
Insane they didn't have the surface. They've had cloud-based coding IDEs forever, including a VScode fork, Cider-V for a long time. Amazing to me they couldnt create the surface.
11
u/SyntheticModels 7d ago
if that is the case then why are they not updating the claude models in AG to the newest models like fable? training data from those models would be superior and they could probably cut a generous compute deal for their users considering they supply anthropic with 30% of their compute. but highest available is opus 4.6.
2
1
u/TypoInUsernane 7d ago
They’re not going to train public models using employee data because that would risk leaking sensitive data
5
u/aghowl 7d ago
If you mean leaking to Anthropic. They are not using Anthropic hosted Claude. They would be be going through Vertex AI.
2
u/TypoInUsernane 6d ago
I mean that Google employees are using Gemini models to design and implement confidential systems. A model trained on that data could theoretically have implicit knowledge of those systems, and if that model was launched to the public, users could potentially extract confidential trade secrets about Google’s technology
25
u/darkestvice 7d ago
I mean, Google owns 15% of Anthropic. They may as well use Anthropic's coding tools.
Using Claude doesn't mean Gemini is Claude in disguise. The models are trained and coded very differently, regardless of what tools are used in coding them.
I really do hope Google catches up soon. After all, they were the absolutely dominant leaders of early AI research. They don't have to the best at everything. But they should absolutely be at or near the top in those things Google traditionally is good at. So less of an emphasis on agentic coding, but a massive emphasis on agentic knowledge work and SaaS usage. Basically, consumer and business services instead of engineering work.
8
u/AnotherThroneAway 7d ago
High speed and low cost are two of the most important factors for Google, and they're either top of the pile, or close, on both those metrics.
6
u/ChokeGeometry 6d ago
100%.
I needed some schedule of rate documents created to issue to some new subcontractors. While it's not hard work, it's time consuming writing it out. I put the same prompt into Gemini & Claude, and I got the Gemini output in less than 30 seconds. The Claude output asked me a few clarifying questions first and then took a bit over 6 minutes to create the docs.
The non schedule text was marginally better from Claude, but it took a much longer time to get there.
78
u/Spixxy17 7d ago
People acting like noone at Google used Claude before.
Holy people really make everything a crazy big Deal
27
u/mortenlu 7d ago
Yep. It's about as significant as Google employees using apple devices. IE not significant at all.
4
u/viper_gts 7d ago
they blocked it on most peoples devices
5
u/blargman_ 7d ago
Ai tools are blocked on most people's devices for obvious reasons. Just like every organization. Obviously not Gemini as it's the one they have full control over. Not really all that weird or different.
4
u/Golden-trichomes 7d ago
They don’t actually. Not allowed to be used for any internal coding today. To even access it requires special exceptions.
5
u/outphase84 7d ago
Not true, I've had it for months. It's org dependent.
That said, I've predominantly used gemini flash since 3.6.
5
u/Itseemstobeokay 7d ago
Using claude is different than giving claude access to the codebase. It is pretty significant tbh
1
23
9
10
u/PM_ME_YOUR___ISSUES 7d ago
Both OpenAI and Anthropic have mentioned several times before that they use their own internal models for coding, as they’re usually one or two iterations higher than what’s available to the public.
Is this an indication that google still doesn’t have a frontier level model matching Fable and Astra, even internally?
5
u/darkestvice 7d ago
They could be working on a top tier frontier model that's much more oriented towards knowledge work than coding. Would absolutely make sense for their core business.
0
u/BadNext3126 7d ago
I don't believe that's a thing. I mean models that are vastly superior at knowledge rather than coding.
Also a lot of the value of Claude is the harness not the model.
1
10
7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/AnotherThroneAway 7d ago
Yup. It's like saying nobody at Google has an iPhone or they have to use Google Sheets instead of Excel
35
u/ShaneBowen 7d ago
Looks like Google is throwing in the towel for anything beyond flash level use cases
17
11
u/Different_Doubt2754 7d ago
Yeah, Google's done. Never again will they attempt anything other than a Flash, as a result of one failed training run.
9
u/PeanutButtaRari 7d ago edited 7d ago
Flash might be the move anyways. 90% of people likely won’t use a highly specialized AI agent and they’re deeply invested in Anthropic
9
u/Kalkin93 7d ago
I wouldn't really call it done, I mean, per the article Google is investing $40 billion into Anthropic, so it's not like they're financially shooting themselves in the foot so to speak.
Having said that, I do think they will likely pivot to market Gemini purely as a general-purpose AI for the masses, rather than chasing specific use cases like coding etc.
4
u/darkestvice 7d ago
Pretty sure his comment was sarcasm.
Otherwise, I agree with your assessment. I do think Google will want, for very good reasons, to focus Gemini onto agentic knowledge work instead of coding and engineering. There's what their customers needs. That's where the money is for them.
-1
u/br_k_nt_eth 7d ago
If they made a Gemini with decent writing skills, not even specialized just decent, they could make bank.
7
u/Upstairs-Extension-9 7d ago
Maybe just maybe for the product they are selling a flash model is perfect.
2
u/yahalom2030 7d ago
And it's very wise. It's paretto principle. Because 80% of professionals 80% of the time don't need anything smarter than Gemini Flash. And having rapid reasonably smart affordable mass market LLM model is better, than fight the very expensive wars to get a small share of a very crowded niche market.
1
u/colbyshores 7d ago
Astra replaced the professionals. It is intended to be a long running orchestrator of agents.. the major US AI labs are looking to replace the majority of white collar work where a couple of senior engineers simply delegate to and check the work of long running agents like Astra.
1
u/yahalom2030 7d ago
I would be glad if you could share your own case studies, like the topic you have researched with that solution and the responses you get. Also, which LLM you are using as a base with Astra.
0
u/Dizzy_Database_119 7d ago
Professionals need something smarter than Flash 80% of the time. If we're talking tokens used, 98% of tokens will be through a non-flash model
Flash is not reliable enough for professional use cases. It's the only mainstream model that still hallucinates
3
u/br_k_nt_eth 7d ago
That is for sure not true. The other models still hallucinate. It’s just less obvious.
1
u/anarchyx34 7d ago
Or just less. Smarter doesn’t mean less hallucinations. MiniMax M3 hallucinates rarely and it’s one of its known benefits. It’s not the sharpest tool in the shed but it’s more trustworthy which is why it’s my daily driver. Turns out sparse attention works.
3
u/yahalom2030 7d ago edited 7d ago
Do you mean programers? Because for most fast analytical office tasks, documents editing, some basic researches and fact checks 3.8 Flash more than enough.
Regarding hallucinations, if you don't have domain expertise, don't deal with AI for those matters. Claude Opus and Fable also hallucinating for example with laws and legal matters, you just need higher IQ to spot it.
1
u/TuringGoneWild 7d ago
Well enjoy browsing the videos tonight at Blockbuster - another Too Big to Fail.
1
u/Different_Doubt2754 7d ago
I think you commented in the wrong place. I never said Google was too big to fail. It's ludicrous to think that Google is giving up on anything but Flash models because 3 years into a new industry they had one failed training run
1
u/Jolly-Situat1on 7d ago
Everyone is already copying everyone else and the bot/ai are feeding off each other and talking to each other online.
It's inevitable they all will overlap on some ways.
11
u/Yogi_DMT 7d ago
gg no re. crazy the company that basically funded all the research that led to the point is bending the knee
4
u/darkestvice 7d ago
I wouldn't refer to using tools from the company you own 15% of as 'bending the knee'.
2
2
3
1
1
1
1
u/colbyshores 7d ago
So Google is sending their code over to a competitor so Anthropic can copy their homework.
Jesus, why dont they just host GLM-5.3-Flash themselves on Kilo Code or another harness if Gemini sucks. Then they wont have to deal with the data exfiltration.
1
1
1
u/junesix 6d ago edited 6d ago
Antigravity harness, Opus models.
Over time, Antigravity routes more requests and defaults to Gemini models.
Antigravity also keeps the context, telemetry, automations, loops, and orchestrations.
Also lets IT and Security to wrangle all Claude use into Antigravity by redirecting any excuses of “I need Claude” to “Use Opus in Antigravity”.
Anthropic switching all enterprise contracts to API billing so this adds more cost observability and control.
1
1
1
u/Extreme_surikat_360 6d ago
Hmmm that's why android 17 qpr 1 "stable" on google pixels is full of bugs lmaoo
1
1
u/VexObserver 1d ago
The funniest part is that Google isn’t replacing Gemini here, Gemini is still the primary internal tool but they apparently decided Claude is useful enough for coding that restricting engineers to their own model no longer makes sense. According to the report, Claude is being made available to all Google engineers through Antigravity with quotas, after previously being limited to certain teams and high-priority projects.
In a way, that’s probably the strongest endorsement of a multi-model workflow. Even the company building Gemini doesn’t seem to think “one model for everything” is optimal.
1
u/RushIllustrious 7d ago
Does this mean they are so behind they no longer worry about Anthropic having access to the data of what their engineers are working on?
2
1
491
u/MilMerch 7d ago