Google DeepMind releases Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking
Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking released — near-real-time visual grounding, 97 languages with switching between languages mid-conversation, and background tool execution that doesn't interrupt the conversation. Company claims: 1st on the Artificial Analysis Speech to Speech Quality Index at 82.6, 97.7% on Big Bench Audio, 68.6% completion of τ-Voice agent tasks, 35.1% on Sierra τ-Voice-banking, and 2nd on Speech Agent Arena. Released the same day on the Gemini API and AI Studio, in private preview for Gemini Enterprise, and rolling out in stages to Search Live and Gemini Live.
Why it matters
Sells voice not as "transcribe, then process the text" but split into two tiers of model with adjustable thinking budgets — a form that separates latency and reasoning depth into products within the same interface.
Source — Primary sources first; secondary reports are labelled “Press”
Officialblog.googlehttps://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-8-live-gemini-3-8-live-extended-thinking/Added in Week 39, 2026 · See that week