Hey there, 

We finally got Google’s new flagship model, Gemini 4 Argon. This model was announced last month but was only available to select testers until this week. It’s now widely available. Today we’ll explore the model, how it stacks up against the competition, and look at what you can create with it. Google shared a number of interesting examples from building racing games to creating a 3D modeling app that outputs files for printing.

What is Gemini 4 Argon?

Gemini 4 Argon is Google’s new frontier model. It’s built for long, complex tasks that involve coding, business, cybersecurity, and science. Google explained that Argon currently outperforms both GPT-6 Astra and Anthropic’s Fable 5.1 across numerous benchmarks. One of the biggest changes facilitating this performance is the amount Argon can produce for each response. It is able to write up to one million tokens in a single response, the highest of any frontier model. Essentially, this means that Argon can work through much larger problems in one go instead of taking several steps. Google also explained that the quality of its answers has improved, with more direct answers and less hedging.  

Argon was initially announced on September 30th but was only given to select beta testers and cybersecurity experts for additional testing. The trusted security experts were given a version of the model without the usual cyber safeguards so they could use its full abilities to find and patch holes in their systems.

What people have built with Argon

Google shared some great demos this week and some users have already surpassed them. Here are a few examples that stood out to me:

• Desk Racing Game: Argon used photos of an actual desk and turned the objects on it into a playable racing game. It plays surprisingly well with working physics, sound effects, and good graphics. You can play and remix this game for free! 

• 3D Wizard Chess Game: This was another fun example of what Argon can build. This game was created with Google’s coding agent Antigravity and used Python to create all the 3D elements. You can play it here!

• Interactive 3D experience: In this example, Argon used only code to create a 3D interactive recreation. The level of detail and customization is remarkable.

• Interactive Heritage Site: Argon was able to turn LiDAR scans and research papers into an engaging 3D experience. You can click on each of the buildings to read snippets from the papers while exploring the site. 

Who can use it

If you pay for a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription, then you can already use Gemini 4 Argon in the Gemini app. If you are an Ultra user, you can also access the model via AI Studio and in Antigravity. Developers can also use Argon through the Gemini API at “introductory pricing” that is reduced by 50% until the end of November. Unfortunately, free users can’t access Argon yet and no plans have been announced. 

My Thoughts

Gemini 4 Argon has been a long time coming. We were promised Gemini 3.5 Pro months ago at Google I/O and then never got it. The delay makes sense when we look at the other models that have been released since then. GPT-6 Astra, Fable 5.1 and even Opus 5.5 are incredibly advanced. So in this environment, it’s understandable that Google would hold off on releasing a model if it couldn’t meet or surpass the competition. But late or not, I’m glad we’re finally getting a new high-end model from Google. As someone who loves vibe coding in AI Studio, I can now use a state-of-the-art model in my apps. 

Google has also followed the precedent set by Anthropic by granting early access to cybersecurity specialists. By putting Argon in the hands of trusted beta users, they can better ensure the safety of the model before public releases. This is a smart move, especially as models get powerful enough that some of their abilities need to be limited or blocked before a public release.