Google announced Gemini 3 Ultra at its annual I/O conference in June 2026, previewing the model for trusted testers and confirming a July 2026 release date for Gemini Advanced subscribers at $19.99 per month through Google One.
Gemini 3 Ultra scores 91.2 percent on MMLU in Google’s internal evaluations, which would make it the highest-scoring model on that benchmark if independently verified. Google also claims it outperforms GPT-5 on multimodal reasoning tasks involving diagrams and charts.
The model introduces what Google calls “Project Astra integration,” embedding persistent real-world memory into Gemini so it can remember what it saw through your phone camera, heard in meetings, or discussed in past conversations.
Project Astra and Persistent Memory
Project Astra, first demoed at Google I/O 2024, gives Gemini a continuous memory stream from audio, video, and text inputs over time. In June 2026, Google confirmed it is ready for production use inside Gemini Advanced on Pixel 9 devices first.
Astra memory is stored on-device and in Google’s encrypted cloud depending on user preference. Memory can be reviewed, edited, or deleted in the Gemini app at any time. Google says no memory data is used to train future models.
Practical use cases demonstrated at I/O included telling Gemini “find the whiteboard diagram from my meeting last Tuesday” and having it retrieve a phone-camera capture from that session, or asking it to “continue where we left off on the tax question” after a multi-day pause.
Search Integration and AI Overviews Update
Google also announced that Gemini 3 Ultra powers a redesigned AI Overviews in Google Search, which now appears at the top of results for 40 percent of US queries, up from 13 percent when AI Overviews launched in 2024.
The redesigned overviews include clickable citations inline within the summary text, a response to publisher complaints that the original AI Overviews format reduced referral traffic by hiding source links below the fold.
According to data presented at I/O, pages cited in AI Overviews receive 23 percent more clicks on average than the same page appearing in the organic results below the overview, Google said, though independent publisher data has produced conflicting findings.
Gemini 3 Ultra vs. GPT-5 Comparison
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Ultra | GPT-5 | Claude 4 Opus |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU | 91.2% (claimed) | 87.3% | 87.1% |
| Math (MATH) | 82.4% | 79.1% | 78.8% |
| Multimodal (MMMU) | 79.3% | 74.6% | 71.2% |
| Coding (HumanEval) | 81.2% | 84.7% | 88.3% |
| Context window | 2M tokens | 2M tokens | 1M tokens |
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Gemini 3 Ultra release publicly?
Google confirmed Gemini 3 Ultra will be available to Gemini Advanced subscribers via Google One in July 2026. API access through Google AI Studio and Vertex AI is expected in August 2026. Enterprise deployment through Workspace is planned for Q4 2026.
How much does Gemini Advanced cost in 2026?
Gemini Advanced is available through Google One AI Premium at $19.99 per month. The plan includes 2TB of Google Drive storage, Gemini in Gmail and Docs, and access to the most capable Gemini models. A family plan option allows up to five users for $29.99 per month.
What is Project Astra?
Project Astra is Google’s system for giving Gemini a persistent memory of real-world context captured through your phone camera, microphone, and connected apps over time. It allows Gemini to reference things it has seen or discussed in previous sessions, creating a more continuous assistant experience than single-session AI conversations.
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