Frontier Models news · Silicon AI News

October 20265 stories

Google’s Gemini 4 Carbon tops a new independent test

Google calls Carbon its strongest model, with top cybersecurity skills. Only some cyber defenders get it this week. Artificial Analysis already ranks it first, one point ahead of Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5.

Google announced Gemini 4 Carbon on October 28, two weeks after Gemini 4 Argon reached paying users. It goes first to a small group of cyber defenders and then to more trusted partners, Google says. There is no public app or API yet. Artificial Analysis, an independent testing firm, scores it 59 on its new Intelligence Index, the highest of any model.

3 min read

AI ModelsOct 16

Microsoft finishes pre-training its 2.8T MAI-Base-2 model

The model has 2.8 trillion parameters and is not released yet. Microsoft says it beats every open-weight model it tested and needs 4.2 to 12.3 times less computing power than DeepSeek’s best base model; no outside group has checked this.

Microsoft AI said on October 15 that it has finished pre-training MAI-Base-2, its largest model so far. It is a mixture-of-experts model with 2.8 trillion parameters, of which 80 billion work on each token. The model is now in a second stage of training, and Microsoft gives no release date.

4 min read

AI ModelsOct 13

Google opens Gemini 4 Argon to paying users and developers

Since October 13, AI Pro and Ultra subscribers can use it in the Gemini app and in Search, and developers through the paid API. Free users don’t get it yet, and the launch price doubles on December 1.

Google released Gemini 4 Argon, its newest flagship model, to many more people on October 13, two weeks after it went only to cyber defenders. Subscribers to Google AI Pro and Ultra can use it in the Gemini app and in AI Mode in Search. Developers can use it through the paid Gemini API. Free users and AI Plus subscribers don’t get it for now.

3 min read

AI ModelsOct 12

Meta’s Muse Wonder models close in on the AI frontier

Meta released Muse Wonder and the larger Muse Wonder Full on October 12. On Artificial Analysis’s index, Wonder Full scores 56, two points behind Claude Opus 5.5.

Meta released two new AI models, Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full, built for agents that work on long tasks. Developers can use Muse Wonder through Meta’s API for $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens. Muse Wonder Full is only for paying users of Muse Code, Meta’s coding agent.

3 min read

AI ModelsOct 5

Reflection unveils Beam, an open model to rival China’s labs

The US start-up says its 501-billion-parameter model matches a top Chinese model with a quarter to a third of the computing. The weights come later this month, and no outside test exists yet.

Reflection AI announced Beam on October 5, its first open-weight model. The company says Beam scores like Z.ai’s GLM-5.2 on hard reasoning tests while using 3 to 4 times less computing to run. The weights, under the Apache 2.0 licence, are due later this month; for now there is only an early-access list.

3 min read

September 20264 stories

AI ModelsSep 30

Google’s Gemini 4 Argon goes to cyber defenders first

Google’s own tests put its new flagship first on 12 of 18 benchmarks. An independent index scores it level with GPT-6 Astra and behind Claude Opus 5.5, and there is no date for a wider release.

Google announced Gemini 4 Argon, its new flagship AI model, on September 30. For now it goes only to a group of trusted cyber defenders and to Google’s own teams, and Google gave no date for developers or consumers. Google says Argon leads its rivals on most of the tests it published. Artificial Analysis, which tests models independently, scores it level with OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra.

4 min read

AI ModelsSep 25

Google’s Gemini 4 has entered post-training

DeepMind’s new chief wants an early version out as soon as possible.

Koray Kavukcuoglu, the new head of Google DeepMind, said this week that Gemini 4 has entered post-training. He wants to release an early version as soon as possible, “much earlier” than the end of the year. He gave no date, and safety testing is still under way.

4 min read

AI ModelsSep 22

Claude Opus 5.5 cuts token prices by 20%

It tops one independent index. Most other claims come from Anthropic.

Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5 on September 22 at $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens. It says the model matches its top Fable 5.1 on most work, and one independent index ranks it first.

5 min read

Safety & SecuritySep 13

Anthropic’s CEO wants slower AI progress

The plan now needs rules that rivals can verify.

Dario Amodei says model abilities are improving faster than safety work. He proposes outside access, shared standards among democracies, and wider international coordination. His timelines are warnings, not proven forecasts.

5 min read