Google launched Gemini 3.8 Flash, its 'most intelligent workhorse model' — the third Flash release in six weeks — at the same speed and cost class as 3.7 Flash, with gains in software engineering, agentic tasks, and multi-step specialized reasoning. HLE-Verified 54.9%; on DeepSWE v1.1 it beats most larger frontier models at a fraction of the cost. Alongside it, Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber is Google's most capable cybersecurity model — frontier-level vulnerability detection and automated patching — available only to trusted defenders (government authorities, critical-infrastructure operators, software maintainers) via the Fairwind Program: CWE-Bench (Collinear) pass@1 47.2% vs a leading frontier model's 47.8% at significantly lower cost; 2.6x more correct Chrome patches than much larger commercial models; Wiz reports +7.5-9.7% recall on internal pentest benchmarks at 2.3-5.2x lower cost; Google Cloud Vulnerability Research found a critical foundational vulnerability in under 2 hours. Intro pricing for 3.8 Flash: $0.75/M input and $3.75/M output until 2026-12-31, then $1.50/$7.50. Available across Antigravity, Gemini API, Stitch, Gemini Enterprise, and AI Pro/Ultra; 3.7 Flash remains supported for efficiency-first workloads (3.8 Flash uses more tokens on complex tasks, with lower effort levels available). Both models carry CBRN and cyber-offense safeguards under the Frontier Safety Framework plus improved prompt-injection robustness (Gray Swan). Gemini 3.8 Flash reached GitHub Copilot on 9/3.
Two things land at once: a workhorse-tier upgrade at an aggressive intro price ($0.75/$3.75), which resets the price-performance line for coding-agent routing; and the second lab in a week shipping a cyber-capable model gated behind a trusted-defender program (after Anthropic's Mythos 5.1 CYP) — controlled distribution of frontier cyber capability is becoming the standard pattern, not an outlier. For security teams, Flash Cyber's numbers (near-frontier CWE-Bench at lower cost, 2.6x correct Chrome patches) make vuln-detection pipelines practical; everyone else should note the token-usage increase on complex tasks before switching.
| Availability | 3.8 Flash: Google Antigravity, Gemini API (AI Studio, Android Studio), Stitch, Gemini Enterprise, AI Pro/Ultra consumers; GitHub Copilot 9/3; 3.7 Flash remains for efficiency-first workloads |
|---|---|
| Pricing | intro $0.75/M input, $3.75/M output until 2026-12-31; $1.50/$7.50 from 2027-01-01; 3.8 Flash uses more tokens on complex tasks, lower effort levels available |
| Flash Benchmarks | HLE-Verified 54.9%; DeepSWE v1.1 beats most larger frontier models at a fraction of the cost |
| Flash Cyber Benchmarks | CWE-Bench (Collinear) pass@1 47.2% vs leading frontier 47.8% at significantly lower cost; 2.6x more correct Chrome patches than best commercial models; Wiz +7.5-9.7% recall at 2.3-5.2x lower cost; Google Cloud VR critical foundational vuln in <2h; >70% success on internal 20-language vulnerability benchmark |
| Gating | Fairwind Program: trusted government authorities, critical infrastructure operators, software maintainers; more permissive cyber mitigations than the standard model |
| Safety | CBRN + cyber-offense safeguards per Frontier Safety Framework; improved prompt-injection robustness (Gray Swan) |