---
id: "2026-11-10-gemini-4-carbon-generally-available"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-11-10-gemini-4-carbon-generally-available/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-11-10"
date_precision: day
category: model-release
importance: 4
confidence: high
status: [Confirmed]
sources: 5
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-11-12"
---

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/2026-11-10-gemini-4-carbon-generally-available/

# Gemini 4 Carbon becomes generally available on the Gemini API, the Gemini app and AI Mode

On 10 November 2026, two weeks after a cyber-defenders-only launch through the Fairwind Program, Google made Gemini 4 Carbon, its strongest model, available to all paying developers on the Gemini API (model id gemini-4-carbon) at the same introductory price as Gemini 4 Argon, $2 input / $10 output per million tokens, and to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the Gemini app, AI Mode in Search and Antigravity. Google positions Argon for most work and Carbon for the hardest long-horizon tasks; it also previewed a /swarm multi-agent mode in Antigravity.

## Key facts
- ARC Prize (verified, Nov 10): ARC-AGI-3 65.1% in the standard harness ($7.2K) and 99.1% with the provider adapter ($4.6K); ARC-AGI-2 94.2% at $0.38/task; ARC-AGI-1 98.5%; 18 points above Argon on ARC-AGI-3 (standard harness)
- Available from 10 Nov 2026: Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Gemini for business (all paying developers and enterprises), Android Studio; Google AI Ultra subscribers in the Gemini app, AI Mode in Search and Google Antigravity
- API id gemini-4-carbon; introductory price $2 / $10 per 1M tokens, the same as Gemini 4 Argon (Google earlier gave $4 / $20 as the price after the introductory period)
- Google: #1 on CursorBench 4.0, Perplexity's WANDR and Zapier's AutomationBench 'at more than 2X lower cost per task compared to the next best external model'; #2 on Artificial Analysis's new Multimodal Knowledge Agent benchmark at over 6x lower cost per task than the leader
- Uses more tokens than Argon to 'explore thoroughly, reason deeply, and run extended verification loops'; Google still calls Argon 'the ideal choice for the majority of software engineering and knowledge work'
- Antigravity previews /swarm: one prompt becomes a coordinated team of agents with parallel isolated workspaces and adversarial verifiers
- Cyber capabilities without the consumer mitigations remain limited to the Fairwind Program; scientists can apply for 6 months free via Antigravity
- Knowledge cutoff March 2026 (DeepMind model card); our no-search probe on 2026-11-10 confirmed it: correct details for six Jan–Mar 2026 events, 'DON'T KNOW' for five April–June 2026 events
- Independent standing on release day: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 60 (high), behind Claude Fable 5.2 at 65 (released the day before) and ahead of Opus 5.5 at 59

## What happened

Gemini 4 Carbon was announced on 28 October 2026 but released only to cyber defenders in Google DeepMind's Fairwind Program. On 10 November Google opened it to everyone who pays: developers through the Gemini API and AI Studio, enterprises through Gemini for business, and Google AI Ultra subscribers in the Gemini app, AI Mode and Antigravity. The price is Argon's introductory price, which makes Carbon the cheapest per token of the three top models on Artificial Analysis's index, though Google says it spends more tokens per task than Argon.

## Why it matters

For two weeks the best-scoring model on several independent boards could not be called by the public; it now can, one day after Anthropic's Fable 5.2 overtook it on Artificial Analysis. The release also changes practical choices: our long-context pick moves from Argon to Carbon.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 194 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 133 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): 224 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 163 days after its cutoff

## Sources

1. [Google: Gemini 4 Carbon is now available (Koray Kavukcuoglu)](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-4-carbon-now-available/) (blog.google, official)
2. [Gemini API docs: gemini-4-carbon](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models/gemini-4-carbon) (ai.google.dev, docs)
3. [Gemini 4 Carbon model card (knowledge cutoff March 2026)](https://deepmind.google/models/model-cards/gemini-4-carbon/) (deepmind.google, docs)
4. [Google AI on X: availability announcement (73k views)](https://x.com/GoogleAI/status/2120187753329791341) (x.com, official)
5. [ARC Prize on X: Gemini 4 Carbon verified scores](https://x.com/arcprize/status/2120268980778668036) (x.com, discussion)

## Changes

- 2026-11-12: ARC Prize verified scores (news agent)
- 2026-11-10 (filed): Created (owner's tip)

## Related

- 2026-11-09: [Anthropic releases Claude Fable 5.2 and Claude Mythos 5.2](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-11-09-claude-fable-5-2-mythos-5-2/index.md)
- 2026-10-28: [Google announces Gemini 4 Carbon, #1 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5 (59), two weeks after Argon; first only for Fairwind cyber defenders](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-28-gemini-4-carbon/index.md)
- People: [Koray Kavukcuoglu](https://postcutoff.com/person/koray-kavukcuoglu/)
- Archived: 2 posts, listed in https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-11-10-gemini-4-carbon-generally-available/index.json