Google on Monday released Gemini 2.5 Pro with Deep Think, an enhanced reasoning mode the company called its most capable model yet, as the AI benchmark rankings shift beneath renewed competition.
The update, quietly pushed to paid Gemini subscribers, introduces a dedicated Deep Think pathway within the 2.5 Pro model. According to Google, the mode improves long-horizon reasoning and multi-step problem solving by adjusting internal compute budgets per task rather than applying a single fixed chain-of-thought. Initial third-party benchmarks place the updated model ahead of rival systems on several coding and mathematics suites, though researchers caution that early numbers often compress under broader agentic testing.
The release arrives amid a crowded year for large-model upgrades. Anthropic's Mythos-class models, OpenAI's GPT-5.6 rollout, and Apple's recent Siri AI overhaul have each claimed performance gains, making Google's move as much about maintenance of mindshare as it is about raw capability. At the same time, the company faces scrutiny over how much additional compute the new mode demands—data-center constraints have become a material cost consideration for every major AI lab.
For users, the immediate change is less about headlines than about reliability. Testers report that Deep Think handles proof-based math and code generation with noticeably fewer factual slips, a quality that matter most when models are used as research assistants rather than casual chatbots. Whether Google can sustain that gap through the rest of 2026 remains unclear, but Monday's launch makes the competition sharper.
Image source: v3b.fal.media