Models
What Is Gemini 4 Carbon? Google’s Newest Frontier Model, Explained
Gemini 4 Carbon is Google’s newest frontier AI model, announced October 28, 2026. Who can use it, the price, the benchmarks, and how it differs from Argon.
Gemini 4 Carbon is the new top model from Google DeepMind, and it arrived only two weeks after Gemini 4 Argon. If you just saw the name in a headline and want to know what it is, whether you can try it, and what it costs, you are in the right place.
The quick version: Google says Carbon is its strongest model yet, especially at finding and fixing security bugs and at long, many-step jobs. But almost nobody can use it today. Here is what we know, all from Google’s own launch post and same-day reporting.
What is Gemini 4 Carbon?
Gemini 4 Carbon (people also type "Gemini Carbon", "Gemini 4.0 Carbon" or just "Carbon AI") is a large AI model made by Google DeepMind. A model is the brain behind a chatbot or an AI agent. Carbon is the newest and most capable brain in the Gemini 4 family.
The launch post was written by Koray Kavukcuoglu, Google DeepMind’s chief AI architect. He calls Carbon Google’s "strongest model" with top results in cybersecurity and long-horizon work. Long-horizon simply means tasks that take many steps and a long time, like fixing a big piece of software from start to finish.
The name was not a total surprise. Business Insider reported in early October that Google staff were testing an internal Gemini 4 version called Carbon. Until today, that was only a leak. Now it is official.
Gemini 4 Carbon release date and availability
Carbon was announced on October 28, 2026. Google is rolling it out in stages, the same way it did with Argon.
| Who | Can they use Carbon? |
|---|---|
| Cyber defenders in the Fairwind Program | Yes, a first group starting the week of October 28 |
| More trusted Fairwind partners | Added step by step |
| Developers (Gemini API) | Not yet, "as soon as possible," no date |
| Businesses | Not yet, no date |
| Gemini app users | Not yet, Google has not named a plan or date |
Fairwind is Google DeepMind’s early access program for groups that protect important systems, such as governments, hospitals and phone networks. Unite.AI reports it has more than 650 partners, and members must follow strict rules, like using phishing-resistant sign-in and not sharing access. Google also says it is taking part in the US government’s voluntary testing of new models before release.
Is Gemini 4 Carbon free?
No. There is no free version, and regular people cannot use it at all yet. Google did publish the developer price, which is the same as Argon’s:
| Price per 1M tokens | Introductory | After the intro period |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $2 | $4 |
| Output | $10 | $20 |
| Cached input | 95% off the input price | 95% off the input price |
A token is a small piece of a word. Google’s post does not say when the intro price ends for Carbon. For Argon, the intro price runs through November 30, 2026, so watch for a similar date.
Gemini 4 Carbon benchmarks
These are Google’s own numbers from launch day. Nobody outside Google has confirmed them yet. Google says it ran the security tests with the safety guardrails turned off.
| Test | What it measures | Carbon (Google) |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5 | Overall smarts across many hard tests | 59, ranked 1st |
| SEC-bench Pro | Finding real security holes on its own | 88.2% |
| ExploitGym | Proving a security hole can be used | 54.8% |
| CWE-bench | Patching security flaws | 71.0% (Argon: 68%) |
| WebDev Arena | Building websites, voted by people | 1768 Elo, 4th, up 89 points |
For context, the Intelligence Index v5 had Claude Opus 5.5 in first place at 58 when it launched one day earlier. A 1-point lead is small. Our guide to the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index explains what that score does and does not tell you.
Gemini 4 Carbon vs Gemini 4 Argon
| Gemini 4 Argon | Gemini 4 Carbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | September 30, 2026 | October 28, 2026 |
| Who can use it | Google AI Pro and Ultra, paid API (since Oct 13) | Selected cyber defenders only, for now |
| Intro API price | $2 in / $10 out | $2 in / $10 out |
| Secure code success | Baseline | More than 2x Argon (Google internal) |
| Unsupported claims | Baseline | About half as many (Google internal) |
| Prompt injection attack success (Gray Swan) | 0.7% | 0.0% |
So Carbon is a better Argon, not a different kind of model. Google says it uses the same safety system as Argon. It also says Carbon cut cheating on the Terminal-Bench 4.0 test to 0.0% and reduced "overreach," when a model does more than you asked, by 26%. If you want Google’s best model today, Gemini 4 Argon is still the one you can actually get.
What this means for you
Carbon is a clear sign of how fast things move now. Argon was Google’s best model for just four weeks. In that time OpenAI shipped GPT-6.1 Terra, and the top of the leaderboard changed twice. Most of the newest models also start behind a waitlist.
For most people, tracking that is not worth the time. You do not need the newest model name to get an email written, a trip planned or a document summarized. You need the job done well. That is the idea behind agentic AI: you give a goal, and expert agents plan the steps and finish the work.
That is how our app works. Agentic AI gives you a team of ready-made expert agents on your iPhone and iPad, running on frontier models. You can put up to 4 agents on one task, there is no account to create, and your first 3 tasks are free.
Quick answers
What is Gemini 4 Carbon? Google DeepMind’s newest frontier AI model, announced October 28, 2026. It follows Gemini 4 Argon and is strongest at cybersecurity and long, many-step tasks.
Is Gemini 4 Carbon real? Yes. It started as a leak in early October, and Google officially announced it on October 28, 2026 on its blog and Google DeepMind’s X account.
When is the Gemini 4 Carbon release date for everyone? Google has not given one. It says Carbon will reach developers, businesses and consumers "as soon as possible" after the first cyber defenders.
Is Gemini 4 Carbon free? No. The API will cost $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens at first, then $4 and $20.
Gemini 4 Carbon vs Argon: what is the difference? Carbon is newer and, by Google’s tests, better at secure code, patching bugs and resisting prompt injection. Argon is the one you can use today.
Is Gemini 4 Carbon better than Claude Opus 5.5? Google says it scores 59 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5, one point above Opus 5.5’s 58. That gap is small, and independent tests are not out yet.
New to words like tokens and frontier models? Our agentic AI glossary explains them in plain English.
Sources: Google: Gemini 4 Carbon · Google DeepMind on X · 9to5Google · Unite.AI · Crypto Briefing
