Google delivered big artificial intelligence news this week, launching the next generation of its chatbot, Gemini 2.0. Google is opening up new Gemini 2.0 models in a multipronged initiative.
Let’s break down what’s new and coming from Google’s Gemini AI tool.
Gemini 2.0 Pro
The company is releasing an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro in Google AI Studio, Vertex AI and in the Gemini app for Gemini Advanced users. The company calls this “our best model yet for coding performance and complex prompts.”
Gemini 2.0 Flash
The updated Gemini 2.0 Flash is now generally available via the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, meaning developers can now build production applications with 2.0 Flash. This gives more people access to the smaller, more efficient version of Google Gemini following the big splash by DeepSeek, the generative AI tool that burst onto the scene in late January.
Read more: What Is DeepSeek? Everything to Know About the New Chinese AI Tool
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite
Google is also countering Chinese AI startup DeepSeek with Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, a less expensive alternative that is now available in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI for developers. (By comparison, all versions of DeepSeek’s AI offerings are free.)
Google says Flash-Lite (get it?) is its most cost-efficient model yet.
2.0 Pro and Flash Thinking Experimental
People with the Gemini app will also get to try out Google Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental, a benchmark darling as the top AI model according to Chatbot Arena’s leaderboards. This version of Gemini 2.0 Flash is special, thanks to its ability to break down user prompts into a series of steps to help provide better responses to complex prompts.
For those looking for something more powerful, Google also added Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental to the Gemini app for Gemini Advanced users, as well as Google AI Studio and Vertex AI.
Flash Thinking can also interact with Google apps like Maps, YouTube and Search.
“These connected apps already make the Gemini app a uniquely helpful AI-powered assistant, and we’re exploring how new reasoning capabilities can combine with your apps to help you do even more,” Patrick Kane, director of product management for the Gemini app at Google, wrote in a blog post.
The AI news keeps coming
The wide release of Google Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental, Flash-Lite and Flash Thinking is the latest in a string of AI announcements from Google.
Late last month, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series became the first smartphones to ship with Google’s Project Astra, an AI feature that lets users point their phone cameras at things to get information about them. The company also launched its Daily Listen feature, which generates audio summaries of news updates based on your Search and Discover activity.
Google’s news is a counterpoint to the hype about DeepSeek, which boasts similar performance to bigger AI models at a fraction of the price. It’s too soon to say if DeepSeek will stick around for the long haul due to a variety of factors, but Google’s announcement and OpenAI’s o3-mini release may help pry attention away from the young AI upstart.
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