Thread

1. rdtsc · 1789498342 · focus · HN ↗

   I wonder when/if we’ll see Gemini beating Fable and Astra. Last year I would have confidently bet Google will overtake the others just because they have the data, the hardware (TPUs) and a fat advertising money pipe and yet they are still behind. Anyone anonymous at Google want to hint when Gemini 4 will be out?

   1. WarmWash · 1789498885 · focus · HN ↗

      As an "everyday mans AI" I'd say 3.8 Flash definitely already has. Smart enough for the vast swath of people, and only slightly eeked out by Astra(Max) on vision capabilities, like the kind of "Point your camera at something and ask questions" that non-tech people like to do. It's crazy fast and very compute light, so not getting bogged down constantly.

      I can't think of a better general purpose model than 3.8 flash right now. It also writes more naturally than the other big models too.

      1. rdtsc · 1789504818 · focus · HN ↗

         I was thinking about coding specifically. Also, see all these math and physics breakthroughs, it's usually not Gemini but Fable and Astra.

         1. asdfman123 · 1789512218 · focus · HN ↗

            I think 3.7 Flash is very good at coding. I have access to both that and Opus 5. Opus is only slightly better IMO and it's much more frustrating to read.

            1. rdtsc · 1789524624 · focus · HN ↗

               I think it's good at basic coding and is cheaper and faster. Trying it vs Fable 5.1 I don't see it being even close capability-wise. What I mean by basic coding is "write a script to parse this data" and answering some questions based on the code. It does that well and answers fast. However, when it comes to planning and thinking through a more complicated design problem it's just not there yet.

               1. Gareth321 · 1789539178 · focus · HN ↗

                  It's not even close. Some benchmarks show 3.8 Flash as being close to Astra (DeepSWE v1.1), but they are mostly "bench-maxed". Newer benchmarks like Terminal-Bench 4.0 show Astra at 57.9% and 3.8 Flash at 19.1%. For anyone who has tried to code with Gemini models, there is no contest here.

                  Astra wins handily on every other benchmark, too. Research, science, 3D, visual, Humanity's Last Exam, etc.

                  1. asdfman123 · 1789588504 · focus · HN ↗

                     You can't compare a heavyweight, expensive and slow model to Flash. Comparing apples to oranges.

                     1. Gareth321 · 1789643147 · focus · HN ↗

                        I agree, and I didn't compare them. The users above me did. I was explaining that they are, in fact, incomparable.

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