Google launches Gemini 4 Argon for paying users and programmers

Google launched its Gemini 4 Argon model on October 13, saying it can rival the strongest AI systems on the market after months of lagging behind competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

By Standard Topic. AI-generated from the reporting listed under Coverage. Published October 13, 2026. Updated October 14, 2026.

This story is no longer being updated. It reflects reporting up to October 15, 2026.

What happened

Google launched its Gemini 4 Argon model on October 13, saying it can rival the strongest AI systems on the market after months of lagging behind competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic. It is rolling out in the Gemini app and Antigravity to paying users, while developers get 50 percent discounted API rates through November. Its pricing doubles after November 30.

Why it matters

The launch is Google's attempt to regain ground it lost to rivals in advanced AI development. Its pricing is set to increase after November 30.

Timeline

Oct 13, 12:00 PM ET: Google launches Gemini 4 Argon, claiming it competes with the best AI models available.
Oct 13, 1:15 PM ET: Pricing is set at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, with rates doubling after November 30.
Oct 14, 3:45 AM ET: Hands-on tests find the model can produce up to 1 million tokens in a single response.

Coverage

Gemini 4 Argon ties for third place on an AI benchmark Google helped build (startupfortune.com) October 15, 2026
Hands-on with Gemini 4 Argon and Its 1 Million Tokens (geeky-gadgets.com) October 14, 2026
Google bets on Gemini 4 Argon to regain lost ground in frontier AI race (Moneycontrol) October 13, 2026

Google launches Gemini 4 Argon for paying users and programmers

What happened

Why it matters

Timeline

Coverage

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