Key Takeaways
- Google's Gemini 3.5 Pro, a powerful AI model, is months behind schedule.
- The delay is attributed to coding performance issues and internal competition.
- Alphabet shares fell following the report of the delay.
Google’s flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro artificial intelligence (AI) model remains unavailable despite being expected for release after its May developer conference, according to reports from Reuters citing Bloomberg. The system has struggled to meet internal goals for coding, leading to a significant setback in the AI race.
The biggest reported issue is that Google’s updated Gemini training data failed to improve coding performance as hoped, lagging behind competitors Anthropic and OpenAI. According to sources, these rivals have released models that outperform Google's current offerings in writing code.
Alphabet shares experienced a drop following the delay report. Reuters noted that Alphabet shares slipped nearly 3 percent on Thursday, while MarketWatch reported a decline of more than 4 percent as investors reacted to concerns about Google falling behind in the AI race.
The delay is also linked to internal competition within Google. The company’s Cloud, DeepMind, Android, and consumer product teams have all been working on AI coding tools, creating overlapping efforts that have slowed progress. Co-founder Sergey Brin has pushed for faster movement in AI coding but has faced resistance from engineers who believe important code should still be written by humans.
To address these issues, Google is consolidating its AI coding work under one structure. Chief AI Architect Koray Kavukcuoglu is working to unify the company’s internal AI coding tools, and a new DeepMind team led by research engineer Sebastian Borgeaud has been formed to focus on the problem.
Google has also stated that 75 percent of its new code is now generated by AI and reviewed by engineers. The company has consolidated much of its developer tooling under Antigravity, an internal platform designed to manage data, memory, and safety protocols for AI applications.
The delays have reportedly contributed to senior engineers leaving Google for rival companies like Anthropic. Former employees cited concerns over the direction of the project and the pressure from management to meet unrealistic timelines.
