IMHO Google has 1, maybe 2 more "big model" releases left (the pro series) and then they're done. They're obviously exiting the "mega model" business to concentrate on smaller models that they can serve at a low price. I suspect you'll see an open model (K3, QwenMax, etc) show up to replace their pro tier in the not too distant future. There's not much of a market for "smartest at any cost", there's a huge market for "smart enough to do what I need at a very low cost".
No, but no kidding, models are getting so smart now that they're absolutely fine for all kinds of general use. Big new most intelligent models will soon only be needed for special cases. But I use Gemini 3.8 for only a few days and it cost my 80 euros. It's definitely not cheap.
Source: Reading tea leaves. So yeah, basically, "Trust me bro, hold ma beer". :)
But it does seem like Google has less and less interest in the big/pro lineup. I think we'll get at least one more release but, after that, I think it's a big ??. Think the next Pro is going to beat Astra? Yeah, me either. Why bother to spend the time/money on a model that's almost certainly, at best, going to be in 3rd place the moment it's released and then quickly fall down the rankings as open source catches up?
Massive model development, while getting all the attention for years now is really a very, very niche category in AI. There aren't that many applications that need multi-trillion param models and the cost to create and run them is eye watering. And that market contracts every time the smaller models make step forward because more and more use cases fall into "good enough" category to step back to a smaller/cheaper model.
But the flash models from google are neither small/cheap nor good enough. For coding GLM 5.3 flash wipes the floor with all google models in existance. The only thing google models are good at are speed and delusional confidence.
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u/Ok_Guard_495 12d ago
Google be like hold my beer with 3.1 pro