Google is months behind schedule on releasing Gemini 3.5 Pro, its most capable flagship model, as the company works to improve the model's capabilities and particularly its coding performance, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg on July 16, 2026. Ten current and former employees described frustration among Google engineers, AI researchers and managers, some of whom worry the company is losing ground as Anthropic and OpenAI ship models that exceed Gemini's capabilities. The sources attributed part of the delay to Google's multiple layers of stakeholders involved in readying models for release, reflecting efforts to integrate AI across products including Search, Maps and YouTube. Google did not provide an on-record timeline for the launch.