Design Arena reports Gemini 3.8 Flash 3D output degraded; Google deprecates Gemini 2.5 models
Overview
Design Arena says Google's Gemini 3.8 Flash produced a worse 3D scene for the same prompt about a month after release than three days after.
Its X post says objects never visible on camera rose from 18% to 57%, and underground bushes rose from 0% to 100%, and presents the two outputs as evidence of degradation over time. The report does not say how the outputs were generated, and Google has not responded.
Separately, Google says Gemini 2.5 Pro will be deprecated and auto-redirected to Gemini 3.8 Flash on Dec 1, and Gemini 2.5 Flash to Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite on the same date. Paige Bailey says Google's evals make it "pretty confident" the replacements have similar or stronger capabilities, latencies and prices, and asks developers to report cases where they do not.
Written by AI from the articles below · updated Nov 3, 1:09 PM ET
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Developments
2 developments
- Nov 3, 12:47 PM ET · 2 articlesGoogle says Gemini 2.5 Pro and Flash users are auto-redirected to newer models on Dec 1Paige Bailey: Gemini 2.5 models to be deprecated, 2.5 Flash redirected to 3.5 Flash-Lite
- Oct 25, 12:28 PM ET · 1 articleDesign Arena reports Gemini 3.8 Flash scene output degraded weeks after releaseDesign Arena: Design Arena says Gemini 3.8 Flash output degraded within a month
Article timeline
The articles in this story. Times are ET.
👩💻 Paige Bailey@DynamicWebPaigeOfficialGemini 2.5 models to be deprecated, 2.5 Flash redirected to 3.5 Flash-LiteAIGoogle says Gemini API users on the Gemini 2.5 series should move, as Gemini 2.5 Pro is deprecated and redirected to 3.8 Flash on Dec 1, and Gemini 2.5 Flash to 3.5 Flash-Lite on the same date. Paige Bailey says Google's evals suggest 3.5 Flash-Lite and 3.8 Flash should have similar or stronger capabilities, latencies, and prices, and asks users to report otherwise.
👩💻 Paige Bailey@DynamicWebPaigeOfficialGoogle says Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite can replace Gemini 2.5 modelsAIGoogle says Gemini 2.5 users should move to 3.8 Flash and Flash-Lite, which it expects to match or beat 2.5 on capabilities, latency, and price. The Gemini API auto-redirects Gemini 2.5 Pro to 3.8 Flash and Gemini 2.5 Flash to 3.5 Flash-Lite on Dec 1. Paige Bailey asks developers to report any case where the newer models do not perform as expected.
DesignArena@DesignArenaOfficialDesign Arena says Gemini 3.8 Flash output degraded within a monthAIDesign Arena says Google's Gemini 3.8 Flash produced a noticeably worse 3D scene for the same prompt about a month after release than it did three days after. The share of objects never visible on camera rose from 18% to 57%, and bushes placed underground rose from 0% to 100%. The post presents the two generations as evidence that the model's output degraded over time.

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