Simon Willison used GPT-6 Astra to build a browser-based interface for Google's new Gemini 3.8 Live speech models, which work similarly to OpenAI's GPT-Live. The tool lets you pick a model and voice, add a system prompt, and have real-time voice conversations with interrupt capability.

• Google released Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, speech-to-speech models that parallel OpenAI's GPT-Live family
• The web UI uses only native Web APIs — no external libraries — connecting directly to Google's WebSocket endpoint with Web Audio API for mic and speaker handling
• The implementation demonstrates practical use of Google's Gemini Live WebSocket API for building interactive voice applications

Google announced Gemini 3.8 Flash, its third Flash variant release in six weeks, with a standard version and a specialized Cyber version for security work. The company is offering introductory pricing through year-end but shows no sign of releasing the promised Gemini 3.5 Pro.

• Google is shipping Flash models at an accelerating pace (three releases in six weeks) while the higher-tier Pro model remains stuck at early 2026 versions
• Gemini 3.8 Flash comes in two flavors: a general "workhorse" model and Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber, tuned specifically for vulnerability detection
• Introductory pricing is $0.75/$3.75 per million input/output tokens (dropping to $1.50/$7.50 after year-end), matching aggressive price cuts from competitors to retain customer adoption

Google is building a feature called Rooms for Gemini Enterprise that creates shared workspaces where teams collaborate around specific goals, with AI integrated directly into the space alongside colleagues. The prototype, found in recent builds but not yet public, goes beyond Google's existing Projects feature by adding explicit objectives, operating instructions, and structured knowledge bases.

• Rooms function as all-in-one environments where teams define a goal, set up a playbook for how Gemini should operate, and build a knowledge base from connected files—then invite members to work together in that shared space.
• Google is systematically repositioning Gemini Enterprise toward agentic workplace software through Projects, Canvas, long-running agents, and persistent memory, suggesting Rooms fit into a broader shift away from "AI assistant over data" toward "AI as workplace platform."
• The prototype's final form is still uncertain: unclear whether Rooms will replace Projects, what data sources they'll support, or when (or if) they'll ship publicly.