FrontierThe story, in brief
Google CEO Pichai says Gemini's next leap depends on building "much larger base models"
Google is going bigger. Pichai just confirmed Gemini 4 training has started—and it requires 'much larger base models' than anything they've built before.
The KeyNews take
Why it matters
Pichai's public commitment to larger base models signals Google's competitive response in the model capability arms race. Combined with Alphabet's $205B 2026 capex forecast, this reveals the scale of compute investment required to stay competitive with frontier labs.
The key facts
5 to knowAlphabet raising 2026 investment forecast to $205 billion
Google Cloud revenue growth: 82% YoY in Q2
Gemini 4 training run has commenced
CEO explicitly states next leap depends on 'much larger base models'
Demand outpacing current spending according to Pichai
Go to the source
The Decoderthe-decoder.com
Publisher excerpt: Alphabet has raised its 2026 investment forecast to as much as $205 billion, saying demand continues to outpace spending. Google Cloud grew 82 percent in the second quarter. CEO Sundar Pichai says Google needs a larger base model for its next leap in AI and has kicked off an ambitious Gemini 4…