Google DeepMind has launched Gemma 4, a family of four open-weight AI models licensed under Apache 2.0, marking a major escalation in the U.S. open-source AI race.

The lineup includes the 31B Dense model-ranking third globally on Arena AI’s leaderboard-and a 26B Mixture of Experts model at sixth place. Both outperform models 20 times their size, according to Google’s benchmarks.

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The smaller E2B and E4B variants are optimized for edge devices like smartphones and Raspberry Pis, with native audio support, 128K context windows, and zero-latency offline operation. The larger models support 256K context, structured JSON output, and native image/video processing-fitting on a single 80GB NVIDIA H100.

Unlike prior Gemma releases, Apache 2.0 removes legal barriers, enabling commercial use, modification, and redistribution without restrictions.

Google claims Gemma 4 is the best open model for its size class. Independent testing confirms strong code-generation reliability, though creative outputs remain serviceable rather than inspired.

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This release directly challenges Chinese-dominated open models like Qwen and DeepSeek, reasserting U.S. leadership in locally deployable AI infrastructure.