Google reveals faster and cheaper Gemini 3.6 Flash, says 3.5 Pro is still in testing (arstechnica.com)

Google has announced the launch of its new AI model, Gemini 3.6 Flash, which replaces the recently deprecated Gemini 3.5 Flash. This upgraded model includes notable enhancements in coding capabilities and multimodal features, responding directly to user feedback on its predecessor's performance. In coding tests, Gemini 3.6 Flash scored 49% in the DeepSWE benchmark, a significant increase from 37% in 3.5 Flash, while also demonstrating improved efficiency by using about 17% fewer tokens per task. Furthermore, the cost of using Gemini 3.6 Flash has been reduced, making it more appealing for developers at $1.50 for 1 million input tokens and $7.50 for 1 million output tokens. In addition to 3.6 Flash, Google has unveiled Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber. The Flash Lite model excels in efficiency, processing at an impressive rate of 350 tokens per second, making it suited for cost-effective scaling of systems. Despite its lower price point of $0.30 for 1 million input tokens and $2.50 for output tokens, Flash Lite nearly matches the performance of frontier models from the previous year. These advancements underline Google's commitment to improving AI's cost-effectiveness and usability, addressing the growing concerns about AI deployment expenses in various sectors.