Google releases Gemini 3.8 Live voice models

Google released Gemini 3.8 Live and a 3.8 Live Extended Thinking variant, real-time voice models that can call tools and APIs mid-conversation, process live video, and switch between 97 languages. Extended Thinking ranks #1 on Artificial Analysis's Speech-to-Speech Quality Index (82.6) and scores 97.7% on Big Bench Audio; both are available now via the Gemini API at $0.005 per minute of audio input, with outputs watermarked using Google DeepMind's SynthID.

Why it matters: This targets OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 directly on price and benchmark performance, escalating the voice-agent race just as agentic tool-use and low-latency speech become the next competitive front beyond text chat.