Google isn't releasing its next big AI model yet, drawing groans at its I/O conference - Business Insider

Oh, splendid — Google has turned its own developer conference into a masterclass in anti-climax. CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage at I/O and, instead of dropping Gemini 3.5 Pro like a hot mic, announced it will launch 'next month.' The crowd groaned. Not a polite ripple of disappointment but actual, audible groans. After the fanfare of last week's Gemini 3.5 Flash launch, which was supposed to herald a new agentic era, Google decided the best follow-up was a delayed sequel. Because nothing says 'we're leading the AI race' like making developers wait an extra 30 days for the model they came here to test.

This is the same crowd that cheered Gemini Spark — a personal AI agent that promises to book flights and manage calendars — only to be told the engine that powers the really clever stuff won't be available until June. Pichai's timing is exquisite: announce the flagship model's delay at the exact moment your competitors are shipping. Not that anyone at I/O expected a shipping date; tech optimism apparently atrophies faster than a banana in a data centre heat island. But the groans tell a story: developers are tired of vapourware dressed as vision.

The irony is thick enough to spread on toast. Google spent the past few weeks positioning Gemini 3.5 Flash as a speed demon — 'four times faster' — and now the big brother can't even make it to I/O on time. One wonders if the internal safety teams finally got a say, or if the model just wasn't ready for primetime. Either way, Google has managed to replace 'wow' with 'wait.' Cheeky, really — making your own developer conference feel like a pre-order page.