Google's New Gemini Enters AI Race

 

“Alphabet's Google has been playing catch-up in artificial intelligence ever since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in 2022.

 

The Tuesday launch of Gemini 3, an updated version of its own large language model, offers a chance to narrow that gap -- and perhaps bring its considerable advantages to bear in the race for AI supremacy.

 

The company said Gemini 3 will improve the sophistication of answers to queries in its Gemini app, as well as those made using AI Mode in the Google search engine. The new model is also significantly more skilled at coding, developing applications and generating images, the company said.

 

"We like to think that this model will help everyone bring any idea that they have to life," said Koray Kavukcuoglu, chief technology officer of Google's DeepMind unit.

 

Rumors that Google had already quietly released some Gemini 3 features have circulated widely online, fueling anticipation for the official launch. On Reddit, X and other forums, users have been compiling clues to when Google would release the new model.

 

Google has already gained significant traction this year, in part because of an image-generation tool called Nano Banana (https://chatlyai.app/image-generation?utm_model=b_nano_banana&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=G_C_Web_IG_NBb_7813&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign&utm_term=nano%20banana&device=c&placement&assetgroupid&networkid={networkid}&adtype). The company in August uploaded it to a public platform that ranks AI models, and within days, it was topping the leaderboard, trending on X and overwhelming Google's expectations for usage. Since its launch, people have used it to create more than five billion images, Google said.

 

With Nano Banana, growth in Gemini usage is on its fastest trajectory to date. Gemini now has 650 million monthly active users, up from 450 million in July. The company says queries on the app have tripled since this spring, and that since Nano Banana was introduced, users who try out the Gemini app are more than twice as likely to come back as they had been before.

 

ChatGPT still far outpaces Gemini in usage. The company said this month that it now has 800 million active users each week, up from 700 million in July.

 

But Nano Banana took off in part because it generates images much more quickly than other AI models. Unlike ChatGPT, which can take a minute or longer to produce images, Nano Banana does so within seconds. Many users say the images they create are significantly more lifelike as well, with fewer imperfections such as extra fingers or distorted features.

 

Jamey Gannon, a freelance brand designer in Brooklyn, used to use ChatGPT to generate branding content for her sleep-supplement business and for her other clients. Then, after experimenting with Nano Banana this summer, she found it created far more lifelike images than ChatGPT, and faster.

 

"It's replaced what I used Photoshop a lot for these days," she said. "Nano Banana is what Photoshop should have always been, basically."

 

Google is banking on Gemini 3 to accelerate the momentum. The company redesigned the Gemini app interface to coincide with the launch and is rolling out a suite of new AI features, some of which will be initially available only for subscribers.

 

For example, its AI Ultra subscribers will have access to an experimental feature called Gemini Agent, designed to complete complex, multistep tasks such as organizing an inbox or completing travel bookings. The company also is launching a new development platform called Google Antigravity to leverage the model as a coding agent capable of doing more on behalf of the user.

 

Though Google was slow out of the gate in the AI race, it has a number of advantages that startups like OpenAI don't have. The company designs its own specialized chips, has a roughly 90% market share of online searches and serves millions of people who use its suite of online products including Gmail, Google Docs and other tools that it is now infusing with AI. And the company last month announced record revenue as it seeks to invest billions in the AI build-out.

 

Google plans to make Gemini 3 in AI Mode available to subscribers this week, with plans to roll it out to everyone in the U.S.

 

News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a commercial agreement to supply content on Google platforms. News Corp also has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.” [1]

 

1. Google's New Gemini Enters AI Race. Blunt, Katherine.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 19 Nov 2025: B1.