Our Bureau
New Delhi/Los Angeles
Google on Thursday announced the launch of Gemini 3, its most advanced AI model yet, marking a major step forward in the global race to build safer, more capable artificial intelligence systems. The launch comes just months after Gemini 2.5 and days after OpenAI rolled out GPT-5.1, underscoring the breakneck pace of competition among frontier AI developers.
In parallel, Google outlined a broad set of safety, security and inclusion-focused initiatives for India ahead of the AI Impact Summit 2026, which New Delhi will host in February as the first Global AI Summit in the Global South. The company said its top priority is to build “safe, trusted and inclusive AI”, particularly for vulnerable users facing rising threats such as digital arrest scams, voice cloning abuse and sophisticated fraud networks.
Gemini 3—described by Google executives as a “massive jump in reasoning”—is being positioned as the company’s most capable model to date. “It’s responding with a level of depth and nuance we haven’t seen before,” said Tulsee Doshi, head of product for the Gemini programme. A more advanced research variant, Gemini 3 Deepthink, will be rolled out to AI Ultra subscribers in the coming weeks after additional safety testing.
According to Google, the Gemini ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with over 650 million monthly users and 13 million developers integrating Gemini tools into their workflow. The company also introduced Google Antigravity, a next-generation coding interface powered by Gemini, offering agent-based, multi-pane development similar to emerging AI-native IDEs.
In India, Google is deploying several AI-driven protections, including real-time scam detection on Pixel phones using Gemini Nano, which analyses suspicious calls on-device without recording audio. A pilot with Google Pay, Navi and PayTM alerts users if financial apps are opened during a screen-sharing session—one of the fastest-growing fraud methods.
The company is also scaling digital literacy programmes—LEO, DigiKavach and Super Searchers—and funding AI-driven cybersecurity efforts through Google.org’s APAC Digital Futures Fund.
Calling India’s diversity and scale “critical to building AI for the Global South,” Google said it will deepen collaborations with IIT Madras and CeRAI to advance safety benchmarks, datasets and governance frameworks.
