Google's Gemma 3: A Major Upgrade to its Single-Accelerator AI Model

Over a year after releasing the initial Gemma AI models, Google unveils Gemma 3, boasting superior performance compared to competitors like Llama and OpenAI, especially on single-GPU systems. This enhanced model supports over 35 languages and processes text, images, and short videos. Gemma 3 features an upgraded vision encoder for high-res and non-square images, and includes the new ShieldGemma 2 image safety classifier to filter inappropriate content. While the definition of 'open' remains debated regarding its license, Google continues to promote Gemma 3 via Google Cloud credits and an academic program offering $10,000 in credits for research.