Google launches Gemini 3.8 Live voice models, undercuts OpenAI on price
New audio-to-audio models top speech benchmarks and reason in the background while still talking, at a fraction of OpenAI's cost.
What to know
- Gemini 3.8 Live and Extended Thinking are Google's newest real-time voice AI models, live now via the Gemini API, Workspace, and the Gemini app.
- Extended Thinking ranks #1 overall on Artificial Analysis' Speech to Speech Quality Index (82.6) and leads agentic voice benchmarks including τ-Voice and Big Bench Audio.
- At $1.38 per hour of conversation, the models undercut OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 on price, though OpenAI's full-duplex model may still sound more natural.
- Models support 97 languages with mid-conversation switching, near real-time visual context, and background/async tool execution during live conversation.
“Gemini 3.8 Live and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking are our most advanced live dialogue models yet.”
Google DeepMind, Company blog post · Google DeepMind blog ↗ · Sep 14
Google DeepMind Developer of Gemini 3.8 Live modelsLogan Kilpatrick Google AI product leadOpenAI Competitor, maker of GPT-Live-1Artificial Analysis Independent AI benchmarking organization
How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments
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The Decoder frames launch as a price attack on OpenAI's GPT-Live-1
The Decoder reported that the new models top the Artificial Analysis speech-to-speech leaderboard and cost $1.38 per hour of voice conversation, significantly undercutting OpenAI's GPT-Live-1, while noting OpenAI's model may still sound more natural due to full duplex audio.
“Say hello (literally) to Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, our new SOTA live audio models, available with frontier price + performance. 3.8 Live supports 97 languages (can seamlessly switch), async tool calls, and more!”
— @officiallogank, Google AI product lead · source -
first by Rohan's Bytes, 11d ago · also TestingCatalog AI News, Neowin, Thurrott, RuntimeWire, Google, AI Weekly +5
12 more headlines
- Google rolled out Gemini 3.8 Live and Extended Thinking TestingCatalog AI News · 11d ago
- Google gives Gemini 3.8 Live background thinking Neowin · 11d ago
- Google Announces Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking Thurrott · 11d ago
- Google ships Gemini 3.8 Live to keep voice agents talking while tools work RuntimeWire · 11d ago
- Google Launches Gemini 3.8 Live and Extended Thinking Voice Models Unite.AI · 11d ago
- Google launches Gemini 3.8 Live and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, its “most advanced live dialogue models yet”, to more effectively enable voice agents Google · 11d ago
- Google Ships Gemini 3.8 Live and Extended Thinking, Tops Speech-to-Speech Quality Index at 82.6 AI Weekly · 11d ago
- Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking powers Gemini Live, Gmail, & Keep 9to5Google · 10d ago
- Google Launches Gemini 3.8 Live, New Extended Thinking Voice AI Models NDTV Profit · 10d ago
- Google Releases Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking for Production Grade Voice Agents MarkTechPost · 10d ago
- Google Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking launched to power real-time voice agents The Times of India · 9d ago
- Introducing Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking blog.google · 9d ago
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first by SiliconANGLE, 11d ago · also Search Engine Land, The Decoder, Simon Willison, Simon Willison's Weblog, Search Engine Roundtable, Memeburn
6 more headlines
- Google Launches Gemini 3.8 Live Models for Real-Time AI Dialogue Blockchain.News · 11d ago
- Gemini 3.8 Live powers Google Search Live Search Engine Land · 11d ago
- Google launches Gemini 3.8 Live to take on OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 at a fraction of the cost The Decoder · 11d ago
- Gemini Live audio Simon Willison · 10d ago
- Google Search Live Now Powered By Gemini 3.8 Live Search Engine Roundtable · 10d ago
- Gemini 3.8 Live: Google Still Trails OpenAI, Anthropic Memeburn · 8d ago
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Gemini Notebook’s latest update makes it a better study companion "Google is adding voice conversations, lecture recording, interactive quizzes, and short video overviews to its AI-powered notebook. " by Pranob Mehrotra / via Digital Trends # AI # tech # NotebookLM # GeminiNotebook # productivity # learning # knowledgeManagement # Google # study…
2 more of the top 3 · 61 posts in this stretch
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I have a similar experience using Gemini for quick Catalan translations for iOS apps given enough context.I once asked it to summarize The Hobbit in Catalan to explain it to my daughter before sleep. I was expecting a lot of mistakes as I see regularly if I ask anything in my native language when using GPT or Claude, but it was surprisingly good…
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Google has released Gemini 3.8 Live, its new Speech to Speech model, with the Extended Thinking (High) variant debuting at #1 on the Artificial Analysis Speech to Speech Index at 82.6, and #1 on our Tau Voice benchmark implementation at 68.6% Gemini 3.8 Live is @GoogleDeepMind's successor to Gemin...
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Google details background reasoning for developers
Google's API documentation describes Extended Thinking as a high-reasoning audio-to-audio model that processes background reasoning and asynchronous tool calls while streaming continuous audio, requiring developers to update client state management to handle async reasoning signals.
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Google launches Gemini 3.8 Live and Extended Thinking
Google DeepMind introduced two new live dialogue models offering near real-time reasoning, visual context processing, mid-conversation language switching across 97 languages, and background tool execution; available immediately via the Gemini API, Workspace, and the Gemini app.
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6 outlets Google rolls out new Gemini 3.8 models
first by Breakingthenews.net, 11d ago · also Seeking Alpha, PYMNTS, Deccan Herald, TechRepublic, Inshorts
5 more headlines
- Google releases new Gemini models built to improve conversing capabilities of voice agents Seeking Alpha · 11d ago
- Google Launches New Gemini Models to Upgrade Enterprise Voice Agents PYMNTS.com · 10d ago
- Google unveils Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Thinking AI models Deccan Herald · 10d ago
- Google Launches Gemini 3.8 Live Models That Can Reason While They Talk TechRepublic · 9d ago
- Google launches Gemini 3.8 Live voice AI models | Tap to know more | Inshorts Inshorts · 9d ago
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2 outlets first by HN Best, 11d ago · also HN Frontpage · read ↗
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Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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2 outlets Want AI to Help You Study? Google Gemini Notebook Gets Voice Chat, Lecture Recording and More
first by Mashable India, 9d ago · also NewsBytes
1 more headline
- Google updates Gemini notebook with audio recorder and voice chat NewsBytes · 9d ago
and 2 smaller pieces
What people are saying 21 voices from 3 sites · best of 61 · verbatim
- Sep 17
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Google has launched Gemini 3.8 Live and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, enhancing conversational AI. These models offer fluid dialogue and complex, real-time reasoning, usable in Google apps and via the Gemini API. https:// alternativeto.net/news/2026/9/ google-launches-gemini-3-8-live-and-3-8-live-extended-thinking-with-real-time-reasoning/
- Sep 16
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I can't wait to try this! Gemini was already great at languages and just general spoken conversations. Me and my wife have been going through a rough time of it with some health issues, and talking to Gemini has been a boon through this period. Both of us are Indian, and in just the past day we've: - had insightful conversations on the diagnosis…
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The voices sound really pleasant and realistic. Sadly it doesn't support SIP. I found forwarding streams with websocket for phone calls tend to introduce some unwanted latency that's quite noticeable in a conversation. I've found a lot of success with GPT-live-1 so far, but the generated voices are lacking something I can't put my finger on.
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Gemini 3.8 Live: Upgrade bei Echtzeit-Sprachmodellen für Voice Agents Google stellt Gemini 3.8 Live und eine Extended-Thinking-Variante vor. Die Modelle sollen Echtzeit-Dialoge mit parallelem Reasoning noch besser machen. https://www. heise.de/news/Gemini-3-8-Live-…
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I like it. I had a friend at school who came from SA and spoke Afrikaans - so I know how a natural sounds like.For language learning, translation, research - it is fantastic.It works very well for certain dialects as part of a local language heritage as well: From Welsh to Bavarian - it is a joy to really get approval from people used to these…
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Did this with shona.On the road trip we (3 human occupants) spoke to Gemini in ndebele, karanga, portuguese and ndau and have switch seamlessly to another lanuage like german without loosing the thread of the conversation. what impressed me was its ability to recognize the subtle dialects of shona being spoken, articulate its unncertainty, ask for…
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Google stellt Gemini 3.8 Live vor: Das neue # KI -Modell kann simultan denken und sprechen. Zudem beherrscht die Software fliegende Sprachwechsel in 97 Sprachen. # Google https:// winfuture.de/news,161310.html? utm_source=Mastodon&utm_medium=ManualStatus&utm_campaign=SocialMedia
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Even if really great, it still can’t use tools. The only consumer Google thing with access to MCP tools is Gemini Spark and that has lots of other problems. I wish they would combine their efforts on a great consumer product but it’s Google we’re talking about…I still dream of the day that we get full tool parity in voice and text mode so your…
- Sep 15
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i've been using gemini (api & pro) since last november last year. for creative writing compared to other llm, it's the best in capturing local nuance, it can even create jokes in my languages. But that just it, i cant rely on other work, hallucinate too often, the deep research are not reliable at all. Too many discussion i've had that it grasp…
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My father-in-law was saying the same thing about Gemini 12 months ago regarding the Afrikaans speech. I've tried a few of them in my studies but none of them could seem to switch between English/Afrikaans except Gemini. It's an interesting time to be a language learnerAs jy wil, ons kan saam praat op Discord :) maar my Afrikaans is sleg
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My first language is Afrikaans, which is a somewhat niche language and hard to find teachers/conversation buddies outside South Africa. (I live in USA now)I've been using Gemini to live chat in Afrikaans and do impromptu Afrikaans grammar lessons during my solo drives around town. It is phenomenal at speaking the language - like, it really shocks…
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Just gave it a try - very solid release.Copes well with thick accent, voices are pleasant and latency seems low.Oh and I can actually use it on a workspace account - which for most of the recent releases was an account stuck in limbo. Not personal enough for personal offering, not enterprise enough for enterprise.Well done G - will definitely be…
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🔈 today we're introducing two new live dialogue models Gemini 3.8 Live: built for scale and cost efficiency, combining conversational intelligence with fluid dialogue and visual grounding. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking: built for high-complexity tasks, with increased intelligence and multi-s...
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Meet our most advanced live dialogue models yet from @GoogleDeepMind: 🔷 Gemini 3.8 Live: Built for scale and cost efficiency, combining conversational intelligence with fluid dialogue and visual grounding. 🔷 Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking: Built for high-complexity tasks, with increased inte...
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Gemini 3.8 Live by @GoogleDeepMind is now available on Design Arena! Built for more interactive and capable conversations, this model brings upgraded reasoning, near real-time visual understanding, automatic detection across 97 languages, and background tool calling. Congrats to the @GoogleDeepMi...
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🗣️ Introducing Gemini 3.8 Live and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking. These advanced audio models are built for natural conversation, featuring major upgrades in turn-taking and near real-time reasoning. They also significantly streamline how you build intelligent voice agents. Until now, advanc...
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New Gemini audio models just dropped - 3.8 Live is now powering real-time conversations in Search Live. You'll get: - More helpful responses, complete with web links to dive deeper - Fluid multilingual support (you can switch languages mid convo) - More natural, free-flowing interactions Availabl...
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Wow. Gemini 3.8 Live just dropped right after OpenAI released the GPT-Live-1 API, and Google is already claiming better scores at a significantly lower cost. On this Speech-to-Speech Index, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking scores 82.6% vs 81.5% for GPT-Live-1 Astra. And it does that at $3.50 pe...
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Introducing our most advanced Gemini Audio models yet 🗣 Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking let you speak, collaborate, and execute tasks seamlessly, meaning conversing with AI just got a lot more natural. So, what's the difference between these two models? Let's break it down: — Gem...
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Are invisible interfaces coming? Google JUST announced Gemini 3.8 Live. It can talk through a task with you, then keep working after the conversation ends. I think 90%+ of vertical SaaS will need a voice front door. By that I mean the way you use the software becomes talking to it, and the typin...
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Say “Hello, ¡Hola!, 你好” to Gemini 3.8 Live & 3.8 Live Extended Thinking. 🎙️⚡ Built for next-gen voice agents that reason, execute, and keep the conversation flowing in real time: ⚙️ Async function calling: Trigger tools in the background without pausing audio streams. 👁️ [video]