Google Launches Gemini 3.8 Flash With Cyber Security Variant on September 2, 2026

Google released Gemini 3.8 Flash on September 2, 2026, marking its third Flash model launch in three months, following 3.6 Flash in July and 3.7 Flash in August. Pricing remains unchanged at $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens, though a promotional rate expires on December 31, 2026, after which costs will double. A companion model, Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber, was released simultaneously as a defense-focused variant for vulnerability discovery, accessible only through the new Fairwind Program. Google describes the model as its best reasoning and coding Flash model yet, noting it takes more iterative reasoning steps on complex tasks, though this may lead to higher bills since thinking tokens are billed as output. In benchmark comparisons, the model outperforms rivals on finance, legal, and long-video reasoning tasks but trails Claude Opus 5 on long-horizon terminal and computer-use workloads.