Why Google May Have Quietly Left the AI Race to OpenAI and Anthropic

NewsTue, 28 Jul 2026 21:20:51 UTC2 hours ago

Google is no longer racing OpenAI and Anthropic to the same finish line. Its rivals want AI that improves itself. Google wants AI that understands the real world.

The split is easy to miss, because Google still ships models and still makes money. But its newest release landed 10th on one independent ranking.

What Google Has and Has Not Said About the AI Race

Google released Gemini 3.6 Flash on July 21. The pitch was speed and cost, not raw power.

We're rolling out three new models to make AI agents faster, smarter, and cheaper at scale:

🔵 Gemini 3.6 Flash: It uses fewer tokens than 3.5 Flash to deliver higher quality work at the exact same cost.

🔵 Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: A fast, cost-effective option for everyday tasks… pic.twitter.com/SP1eU3FCW5
- Google DeepMind (@GoogleDeepMind) July 21, 2026

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The model produces 17% fewer tokens than the version before it, Google's blog said. Tokens are the small chunks of text an AI writes. Fewer tokens means a cheaper answer.

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Why Google May Have Quietly Left the AI Race to OpenAI and Anthropic

What Google Has and Has Not Said About the AI Race

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