Google’s new Gemini Pro model has record benchmark scores — again

TechCrunch · Feb 20, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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In Brief Posted: 4:55 PM PST · February 19, 2026 Image Credits:Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch On Thursday, Google released the newest version of Gemini Pro, its powerful LLM. The model, 3.1, is currently available as a preview and will be generally released soon, the company said. Google’s new model may be one of the most powerful LLMs yet. Onlookers have noted that Gemini 3.1 Pro appears to be a big step up from its predecessor, Gemini 3 — which, upon its release in November, was already considered a highly capable AI tool. On Thursday, Google also shared statistics from independent benchmarks — such as one called Humanity’s Last Exam — that showed it performing significantly better than its previous version. Gemini 3.1 Pro was also praised by Brendan Foody, the CEO of AI startup Mercor, whose benchmarking system, APEX, is designed to measure how well new AI models perform real professional tasks. “Gemini 3.1 Pro is now at the top of the APEX-Agents leaderboard,” Foody said in a social media post, adding that the model’s impressive results show “how quickly agents are improving at real knowledge work.” The release comes as the AI model wars are heating up, and tech companies continue to release increasingly powerful LLMs designed for agentic work and multi-step reasoning. Other major names — including OpenAI and Anthropic — have recently released new models as well. Techcrunch event Boston, MA | June 9, 2026 Topics Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news Latest in AI