Industry observers note that but the arrival of the fresh Flash models also highlights what’s missing from the lineup: a fresh “Pro” model. Google just unleashed three fresh versions of its speedy and efficient Gemini Flash models, including an all-round workhorse and a model geared toward cybersecurity.
In a fresh development, (Mythos 5 is still restricted to “trusted partners.”). Both Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite are available now in the Gemini app, while Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber will initially be dropped only for government use and to “trusted partners.” The limited drop follows the precedent set by Anthropic and OpenAI, which offered Mythos 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol, respectively, in limited drop due to their advanced cybersecurity abilities.
As part of the ongoing story, but while we now have fresh Gemini Flash models, we’re still stuck with Gemini 3.1 Pro, which was dropped way back in February—ancient history as far as the AI market is concerned.
In a fresh development, anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 also landed in June, with Fable 5 briefly getting yanked after the sudden imposition of US government export controls. Prior to that, we also saw the drop of GPT-5.5 (April) and Claude Opus 4.8 (in May). In contrast, OpenAI’s most recent frontier model, GPT-5.6 Sol, came out at the end of last month.
Industry observers note that in a press drop, Google said it will be “releasing 3.5 Pro soon.”.
According to the latest update, speculation about 3.5 Pro’s status grew following a recent Bloomberg article, which claimed the model remains in development after “disappointing” testing results. Many (myself included) expected Gemini 3.5 Pro to arrive in May during Google’s I/O conference, but that didn’t happen.
Industry observers note that gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, meanwhile, is optimized for low-latency tasks such as agentic search. For its part, Google says Gemini 3.6 Flash is good for coding and “knowledge work,” as well as multimodal tasks like analyzing charts and parsing documents.
In a fresh development, while speedy and efficient models like Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite are great for summarizing documents, planning meals for the week, or performing everyday AI duties, “pro”-tier models like Claude Opus and Fable or GPT-5.6 Sol are best suited for more complex tasks, like full-blown coding, working in large Excel documents, or composing lengthy prompts.
As part of the ongoing story, the big question, though, is when? Personally, I’ve largely abandoned Gemini Pro in favor of newer pro AI models like Claude Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.6, although that could all change once Gemini 3.5 Pro finally drops.
As part of the ongoing story, his coverage of artificial intelligence interrogates the most recent LLMs, and how they can be used at work and at home to be best prepared for the AI revolution. “AI is going to change our lives sooner than we think,” Ben writes. “Our best way to adapt is by using it every day.” Ben has been a PCWorld author since 2014, and has covered everything from laptops to security cameras before launching PCWorld’s AI beat. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature. Ben has been writing about consumer technology for more than 20 years, and now focuses his reporting on AI as it relates to the basic human experience.