Google reportedly tests Argon, Barium and Carbon Gemini 4 variants internally
Business Insider says Google DeepMind is testing three Gemini 4 variants internally, with Carbon showing a big jump in coding and one employee saying it "feels like Opus 5.5"; the public Argon build was internally called Barium-B.
Google hasn't even rolled out Gemini 4 Argon to the public yet, and its engineers are already testing a MUCH more powerful successor! According to Business Insider, @GoogleDeepMind has been testing several Gemini 4 variants internally, codenamed Argon, Barium, and Carbon. The latest, Carbon, is reportedly a massive improvement in coding capabilities. One Google employee said Carbon "feels like Opus 5.5" for coding, while another simply declared "Carbon is really good!" Interestingly, the model selected for the public Argon release was internally called Barium-B. It's not yet clear whether Carbon will ship as an Argon update or a separate model. The pace of AI development is getting absolutely insane. Models are becoming obsolete before they're even released!