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About this video
Google just made Gemini 4 Hydrogen the new AI model in Google Search, for everyone. We sent it and Google's previous fast model, Gemini 3.8 Flash, the same messy, typo-filled question at the same moment: a cancelled flight, a refund, a way to get there by noon, and a message to the airline.
Would you let Search's AI sort out your next cancelled flight?
- Our test (12 Nov 2026, Gemini API, default settings, both sent at the same moment, 3 runs): Hydrogen finished in 4.8, 5.4 and 5.7 seconds; Flash in 7.4, 9.0 and 11.1. Average 5.3 s vs 9.2 s. One question, three runs: a small test, not a benchmark.
- Both models' answers (run 1) said you're owed a full refund, not just a credit, if the airline cancels and you don't take the rebooking (the U.S. DOT rule), and that a red-eye tonight is the only way to land in New York by noon.
- Google's own numbers: 57% on Terminal-Bench 4.1 vs 18.2% for Gemini 3.8 Flash; Google says it finishes tasks about 2.5x faster than Flash. In the same table on Google's blog, Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores 63.9% on that test.
- The catch, for developers: $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens, double Gemini 3.8 Flash's $0.75 / $3.75 until 31 Dec 2026 (Flash rises to the same price on 1 Jan 2027). In our test each Hydrogen answer cost about 2.5x more, still under one cent.
- Free to try: Google says Hydrogen is in Google Search for all users and is now the default model in AI Mode (Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search). Also in the Gemini app and Google AI Studio.
Sources:
- Google, Introducing Gemini 4 Hydrogen: https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-gemini-4-hydrogen/
- Google Search blog, Google Search gets a major upgrade with Gemini 4 Hydrogen: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/gemini-4-hydrogen-search-upgrade/
- The Verge, Google's new Gemini model is better at understanding complicated questions: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1032505/google-search-ai-mode-gemini-4-hydrogen
- TechCrunch, Google's latest Search upgrade: https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/12/googles-latest-search-upgrade-promises-better-answers-to-your-most-complicated-questions/
- Gemini API pricing: https://aistudio.google.com/docs/pricing
- U.S. DOT airline refund rule (Federal Register): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/07/2026-13675/airline-refunds-and-other-consumer-protections
Pictures:
- Screenshots of blog.google (including Robby Stein's author photo) and aistudio.google.com, shown for news reporting.
- The race is our own recorded run, replayed at real speed.
- Gemini logo: Simple Icons (CC0); a trademark of Google, shown to identify the product.
Music: Cipher by Kevin MacLeod, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cipher_(ISRC_USUAN1100844).mp3)
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What the video says
Google just put a new AI model into Search, for everyone. So we raced it against the old one. It's called Gemini 4 Hydrogen. Google says it's built for messy questions. So, typos and all: Flight cancelled, LA to New York, tomorrow at eight. Refund? Fastest way there by noon? And a message to the airline. Against Google's last fast model, 3. 8 Flash: Hydrogen was done in under five seconds. Flash took seven and a half. Three runs, three wins. About five seconds against nine. And both answers were right: a refund if you don't rebook, and the only way to land by noon is a red-eye tonight. Google also claims fifty-seven percent on a tough coding-agent test. Flash got eighteen. The catch: developers pay double Flash's price, for now. Our answers cost about two and a half times more, still under a cent. Try it free today: it's the new default in Search's AI Mode. So, would you let Search's AI sort out your next cancelled flight?