---
id: "2026-09-02-gemini-3-8-flash"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-02-gemini-3-8-flash/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-09-02"
date_precision: day
category: model-release
importance: 4
confidence: high
status: [Confirmed]
sources: 10
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-04"
---

As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-02-gemini-3-8-flash/

# Google releases Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber

On 2 Sept 2026 Google made Gemini 3.8 Flash generally available — its fourth Flash model in ~106 days and, per Google, its most intelligent Flash model, tuned for long-horizon software engineering (over 70% on DeepSWE v1.1) at $0.75/$3.75 per 1M tokens (intro pricing). A restricted Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber variant for vetted defenders shipped alongside. As of late Sept 2026 it is the newest Flash model in the Gemini API (`gemini-3.8-flash`).

## Key facts
- GA on 2026-09-02; API model ID: gemini-3.8-flash
- Inputs: text, image, video, audio, PDF; output: text
- Context: 1,048,576 input tokens; 65,536 output tokens; thinking levels low/medium/high
- Price: $0.75 input / $3.75 output per 1M tokens through 2026-12-31, then $1.50 / $7.50 from 2027-01-01
- DeepSWE v1.1: over 70% (Fortune reports 74%) — Google says it beats most larger frontier models
- HLE-Verified: 54.9% (vs GPT-5.6 Sol 54.5%, Claude Opus 5 54.4%, Gemini 3.7 Flash 53.6%) per Google's table
- Vals Finance Agent v2: 61.4% (vs Claude Opus 5 58.6%, GPT-5.6 Sol 53.8%) per Google's table
- 3.8 Flash Cyber: 47.2% pass@1 on CWE-Bench (automated patching); >70% success on internal vulnerability-finding test across 20 languages; access via application-only 'Fairwind Program'
- Chrome Security reported 2.6x more correct vulnerability patches; Wiz reported +7.5–9.7% recall at 2.3–5.2x lower cost
- Fortune: 10th place on Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index; ~40% higher cost at high reasoning than predecessor; $2.36 vs $11.84 per task compared with Claude Opus 5
- Released three weeks after Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13)
- Fairwind Program (Sept 2): limited-access program giving vetted governments, Google Cloud customers and cyber partners Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber with the CodeMender agent harness to find, verify and patch vulnerabilities; access is limited to in-house security/IR/pentest teams with MFA and similar safeguards; other Cloud customers can use CodeMender with public models

## What happened

Google DeepMind released **Gemini 3.8 Flash** (GA) on 2 September 2026, calling it its "most intelligent Flash model, engineered for long-horizon software engineering". It is available in Google AI Studio / Gemini API, Android Studio, Google Antigravity, Gemini Enterprise, the Gemini app (Pro/Ultra), AI Mode in Search and Google Sheets.

Alongside it came **Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber**, a specialised model for autonomous vulnerability discovery and patching, gated behind an application-only "Fairwind Program" for trusted defenders. Google cited partner results: Chrome Security got 2.6x more correct patches, Wiz saw higher recall at much lower cost, and Google Cloud's vulnerability research team found a critical bug in under two hours.

On the Gemini API it keeps the 1M-token context and multimodal inputs (text, image, video incl. YouTube URLs, audio, PDF), with configurable thinking levels, computer use (preview), search/Maps grounding, code execution, file search and structured output. Introductory pricing matches 3.7 Flash ($0.75/$3.75 per 1M tokens) until the end of 2026, then doubles.

## Why it matters

Gemini 3.8 Flash caps an unusually fast cadence: 3.5 Flash (19 May), 3.6 Flash (21 Jul), 3.7 Flash (13 Aug), 3.8 Flash (2 Sep). Google's own tables show a "Flash"-tier model matching or beating frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic on some agentic/finance/reasoning benchmarks at a fraction of the price — while the flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro remained unreleased, which press framed as a sign of trouble at the top end. Cyber-specialised variants gated to vetted defenders have become a pattern across labs in 2026.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 125 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 64 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): 155 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 94 days after its cutoff

## Sources

1. [Introducing Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber (Google blog)](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/3-8-flash-and-3-8-flash-cyber/) (blog.google, official)
2. [Gemini 3.8 Flash — Google DeepMind model page (benchmarks)](https://deepmind.google/models/gemini/flash/) (deepmind.google, official)
3. [Gemini 3.8 Flash model card](https://deepmind.google/models/model-cards/gemini-3-8-flash/) (deepmind.google, official)
4. [Gemini API model page: gemini-3.8-flash](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models/gemini-3.8-flash) (ai.google.dev, docs)
5. [Gemini API release notes](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog) (ai.google.dev, docs)
6. [Gemini API pricing](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing) (ai.google.dev, docs)
7. [Google DeepMind: Introducing Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber](https://deepmind.google/blog/introducing-gemini-3-8-flash-and-38-flash-cyber/) (deepmind.google, official)
8. [Google: Proactive cyber defense for governments and enterprises (Fairwind Program)](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/safety-security/fairwind-program/) (blog.google, official)
9. [Google blog: See what 4 builders are making with Gemini 3.8 Flash (Sept 28)](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-8-flash-developers/) (blog.google, official)
10. [Fortune: Google shipped four Gemini Flash models in 106 days, flagship still AWOL](https://fortune.com/2026/09/03/google-shipped-four-gemini-flash-models-in-106-days-but-its-flagship-frontier-model-is-still-nowhere-to-be-seen/) (fortune.com, press)

## Changes

- 2026-09-30: Added DeepMind launch post and the Fairwind Program post
- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-09-23: [DeepMind says Gemini 4 has entered post-training and will ship "much earlier" than end of 2026](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-23-gemini-4-post-training/index.md)
- 2026-08-13: [Google releases Gemini 3.7 Flash at half the price of 3.6 Flash](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-08-13-gemini-3-7-flash/index.md)
- 2026-07-21: [Google releases Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite and 3.5 Flash Cyber](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-21-gemini-3-6-flash/index.md)
- 2026-05-19: [Google I/O 2026: Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini Spark agent and Antigravity 2.0](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-05-19-gemini-3-5-flash-io-2026/index.md)