Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Google is a very big technology company. It makes smart computer programs. One family of these programs is called Gemini.
Now Google has a new program. Its name is Gemini 4 Carbon. Google says it is the strongest program the company has ever made.
Carbon is very good at writing computer code. It can also work on a long task for a long time. And it can find weak points in computer systems.
At first, only a few safety experts could use Carbon. On Tuesday, Google opened it to more people. They must pay to use it. The price is low until the end of November. Then it goes up.
- technology
- Machines and tools that use science, such as computers and phones.
- smart
- Able to do clever things.
- strongest
- Having the most power.
- code
- Instructions that people write to tell a computer what to do.
- task
- A piece of work to do.
- weak
- Not strong and easy to break.
- experts
- People who know a lot about a subject.
- pay
- To give money for something.
Level 2 — Elementary
Google has opened its newest artificial intelligence model, Gemini 4 Carbon, to paying customers. The change happened on Tuesday, 10 November, about two weeks after the company first announced the model.
When Carbon was announced on 28 October, almost nobody could use it. Google gave it first to a small group of security teams whose job is to protect computer networks. The company said Carbon is unusually good at finding and fixing software flaws, so it wanted defenders to have it before anyone else.
Now software developers can reach the model through Google's paid tools, and people who pay for the Google AI Ultra plan can use it in the Gemini app. Businesses can use it too.
Google is charging 2 dollars for every million tokens that go into the model and 10 dollars for every million that come out. A token is a small piece of text, often part of a word. These prices are a special offer that ends on 30 November. Google has not said whether it will ever let people download the model and run it on their own computers.
- model
- A computer system that has learned from data and can answer questions or do tasks.
- customers
- People or companies that buy something.
- announced
- Told the public about something officially.
- networks
- Groups of computers that are connected to each other.
- flaws
- Mistakes or weak points.
- defenders
- People who protect something from attack.
- developers
- People who write software.
- download
- To copy a file from the internet to your own computer.
Level 3 — Intermediate
Two weeks after unveiling Gemini 4 Carbon to a carefully restricted audience, Google made the model broadly available on Tuesday, 10 November. Paying developers can now call it through the Gemini interface for programmers and AI Studio, companies can use it through Gemini for business, and subscribers to the top consumer plan, Google AI Ultra, will find it in the Gemini app and in the AI Mode of Google Search.
The staged release reflected what Google itself says about the system. In its announcement on 28 October the company described Carbon as its strongest model, with major gains in coding, in long tasks that require many steps, and above all in cybersecurity. It reported a score of 88.2 percent on a benchmark that measures the ability to find software vulnerabilities. Because such a tool could help attackers as easily as defenders, initial access went to vetted security teams, and Google says it took part in the United States government's voluntary process for testing models before release.
Pricing is aggressive, at least for now. Until 30 November, developers pay 2 dollars per million input tokens and 10 dollars per million output tokens, with higher rates to follow. The discount looks like a bid to pull customers away from rival laboratories.
Whether Carbon is truly the best model on the market is disputed. Google points to first place on one widely followed index of model intelligence, but some later comparisons rank it second. The company has also said nothing about releasing the model's weights for others to run, or about when it will arrive on its Vertex AI cloud service.
- unveiling
- Showing or announcing something new for the first time.
- restricted
- Limited to a small group.
- subscribers
- People who pay regularly to use a service.
- benchmark
- A standard test used to compare performance.
- vulnerabilities
- Weak points that an attacker could use.
- vetted
- Carefully checked and approved.
- aggressive
- Bold and designed to win against competitors.
- disputed
- Argued about and not agreed.
Level 4 — Advanced
Google ended a fortnight of deliberate scarcity on Tuesday, 10 November, by opening Gemini 4 Carbon to anyone prepared to pay for it. The model, announced on 28 October as the company's 'next frontier' system, is now reachable through the paid Gemini interface for developers and AI Studio, through Gemini for business, and, for subscribers to the premium Google AI Ultra tier, inside the Gemini app and the AI Mode of Search.
The cautious choreography was not mere theatre. By Google's own account Carbon's most striking advances are in cybersecurity: it posted 88.2 percent on SEC-bench Pro, which gauges the discovery of vulnerabilities, alongside strong results in exploiting and patching them. A system that proficient is inherently dual-use, and Google therefore routed early access through its Fairwind Program to vetted defenders while submitting the model to Washington's voluntary pre-release testing. Broad availability implies that the company now judges its safeguards adequate, a judgement outsiders are poorly placed to audit.
Commercial logic is equally visible. An introductory tariff of 2 dollars per million input tokens and 10 dollars per million output tokens, valid until 30 November, undercuts what frontier capability has typically commanded, and looks calculated to win over developers before competitors can respond. What is absent is as telling as what is offered: no open weights, no licence for self-hosting, and no date for Vertex AI, the channel through which many large enterprises actually buy.
Then there is the matter of bragging rights. Google cites the top position, with a score of 59, on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index; other observers place Carbon second, behind a rival's newest model. Leaderboards of this kind are volatile and partial, rewarding the tasks they happen to measure. For customers the more consequential questions are prosaic ones, namely what the model will cost after the promotion lapses, how reliably it sustains long autonomous work, and how far its maker's assurances about misuse can be trusted.
- scarcity
- A situation in which there is very little of something.
- choreography
- A carefully planned sequence of steps.
- proficient
- Very skilled.
- dual-use
- Able to be used for both good and harmful purposes.
- safeguards
- Measures that protect against harm.
- tariff
- A list or level of prices charged for a service.
- volatile
- Likely to change suddenly.
- prosaic
- Ordinary and practical, not exciting.
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