The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reports Alphabet/Google is preparing to launch Gemini 3.8 Flash (internal codename Skimaki) as early as Wednesday, September 2, 2026, aimed at closing Gemini's coding gap versus OpenAI and Anthropic. In head-to-head tests on Google's internal Jetski coding platform, engineers reportedly preferred the new model over Anthropic's Claude Opus. 3.8 Flash is a lighter Flash-tier model (not a flagship Pro), which makes rapid RL-driven iteration easier. Google has not published an official announcement, benchmarks, or pricing; this remains reported timing, not a confirmed launch.
Key Takeaways
- ✓WSJ reports Skimaki/Gemini 3.8 Flash could ship as early as Sep 2, coding-focused
- ✓Engineers reportedly preferred it over Claude Opus in internal Jetski tests
- ✓Still a press report; no official Google announcement, benchmarks, or pricing yet