---
id: "2026-09-23-gemini-4-post-training"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-23-gemini-4-post-training/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-09-23"
date_precision: day
category: milestone
importance: 3
confidence: medium
status: [Partly confirmed]
sources: 4
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/2026-09-23-gemini-4-post-training/

# DeepMind says Gemini 4 has entered post-training and will ship "much earlier" than end of 2026

At The Information's AI Agenda Live summit (reported 24–25 Sept 2026), new DeepMind head Koray Kavukcuoglu said Gemini 4 is in early post-training and that Google intends to release an early post-training version "as soon as possible", well before year-end, followed by iterative updates. Google had not shipped a new flagship since Gemini 3.1 Pro (Feb 2026).

## Key facts
- Kavukcuoglu: 'Our intention is to, like, as soon as possible, to release an early post-training output because we see the results and we are excited.'
- Plan: phased rollout starting with an early version, then iterative improvements
- Gemini 4 pre-training was first confirmed by Google on 2026-07-21
- Gemini 3.5 Pro, announced at I/O for June 2026, still unreleased as of late Sept 2026

## What happened

Speaking publicly for the first time since taking over DeepMind, Kavukcuoglu said Gemini 4 had entered post-training and would be released early and improved iteratively.

## Why it matters

Signals Google's response to GPT-6 and Anthropic's latest models after months of Flash-only releases. Exact event date is inferred (the summit was "Wednesday" before Dataconomy's 25 Sept report = 23 Sept); release date for Gemini 4 not yet known.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 146 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 85 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): 176 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 115 days after its cutoff

## Sources

1. [Dataconomy: DeepMind says Gemini 4 is coming much earlier than expected](https://dataconomy.com/2026/09/25/deepmind-says-gemini-4-is-coming-much-earlier-than-expected/) (dataconomy.com, press)
2. [GuruFocus: Google's DeepMind nears launch of Gemini 4](https://www.gurufocus.com/news/9094960/googles-deepmind-nears-launch-of-gemini-4-ai-model) (gurufocus.com, press)
3. [Yahoo Finance: Gemini 4 enters post-training](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/google-gemini-4-enters-post-122454510.html) (finance.yahoo.com, press)
4. [The Information: Google nears release of flagship Gemini 4 AI model](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-nears-release-flagship-gemini-4-ai-model) (theinformation.com, press)

## Changes

- 2026-09-29: Added The Information link
- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-09-02: [Google releases Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-02-gemini-3-8-flash/index.md)
- 2026-08-05: [Demis Hassabis steps aside as Google DeepMind CEO](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-08-05-hassabis-steps-aside-deepmind/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)
- People: [Koray Kavukcuoglu](https://postcutoff.com/person/koray-kavukcuoglu/)