Google starts broad rollout of Gemini 4 Argon, limited to paying users

The model reaches paying customers through Google's AI application-building tools, according to a Reuters report. Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers can use it through the Gemini app and AI Mode in Search, while the Antigravity coding tool is restricted to Ultra subscribers. API pricing at launch starts at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, with the rates set to double after November 30.

Ars Technica reported that Google unveiled Argon a few weeks earlier and said then that it needed to move cautiously toward a full release because of the potential for malicious use. Paying users on lower-tier plans do not receive full access. Google points to benchmarks published late last month as evidence of the model's reasoning and agentic coding capabilities. The company says Argon was trained to refuse malicious instructions, and an automated misalignment monitor can stop processing when it detects an unintended workflow.

Google said teams using Argon in Antigravity increased agentic code submissions by more than 35 percent while reducing code rollbacks by nearly a third. The company also announced it had expanded its Fairwind Program to hundreds of additional partners. That program gives vetted cybersecurity defenders a version of Argon without its cyber guardrails; in September, Google said it was providing the model to select cybersecurity partners.

Inside Google, thousands of employees have used Argon, according to Ars Technica. On YouTube's comment system, Argon identified redundant emoji rendering, and eliminating it cut server load by 45 percent. Engineers also applied the model to the proprietary drone physics simulator used in Project Wing, where it found critical bugs that had been in the codebase since 2018. Google said Argon has advanced its robotics program, producing a measurable step increase in embodied reasoning.

The release follows months of delays and a leadership shakeup at Google's DeepMind lab, according to Reuters, as the company seeks to regain ground against OpenAI and Anthropic. Google said the model excels at "deep work" on complex, multi-step tasks in coding, finance, law, cybersecurity and science.

Editor's Summary

Google has begun releasing Gemini 4 Argon to paying developers and businesses, with full access limited to its AI Pro and Ultra tiers and the Antigravity coding tool reserved for Ultra subscribers. Launch API pricing starts at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens before doubling after November 30, and the company expanded its Fairwind cybersecurity program to hundreds of additional partners. The rollout follows months of delays at DeepMind and internal uses that Google says cut YouTube comment server load by 45 percent and uncovered bugs dating to 2018 in Project Wing code.