- Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro rolls out today – with a big leap in AI reasoning performance
- New benchmarks show it more than doubles its problem-solving ability compared to Gemini 3 Pro
- Some users say the upgrade comes at a cost – with less personality and empathy
Google has rolled out an improved version of Gemini 3.1 Pro for all its subscriptions, from Free to Plus, Pro and Ultra. If you open the Gemini app now, you should see that the Pro option in the model chooser has been updated to 3.1 Pro. Gemini 3.1 Pro is also available in Google’s NotebookLM search tool.
Google calls the 3.1 Pro a “smarter, better baseline for solving complex problems,” and to back that up, it released benchmark results showing how much better the new model performs than the Gemini 3 Pro.
On ARC-AGI-2 — a benchmark that evaluates a model’s ability to solve entirely new logic patterns — 3.1 Pro scored 77.1%, more than double the reasoning performance of 3 Pro.
Google has already shown what 3.1 Pro can do. An example is an urban planner type application:
We used Gemini 3.1 Pro to create a realistic city planning application. 🏙️Watch how the model tackles complex terrain, maps infrastructure, and simulates traffic to generate high-quality visualization. pic.twitter.com/SKoVzwtBy8February 19, 2026
Google highlighted how the city planning app shows version 3.1 can tackle complex terrain, map infrastructure, and simulate traffic to generate high-quality visualization.
A lack of empathy
According to Google, “3.1 Pro is designed for tasks where a simple answer isn’t enough, taking advanced reasoning and making it useful for your toughest challenges. »
However, it seems that not all users like the new update. Although Gemini’s problem-solving capabilities seem to have improved, some users are not very satisfied.
This reaction resembles the initial response to ChatGPT-5 when it launched, replacing the popular GPT-4o, with users complaining that the new model seemed more robotic and analytical than its more human-like predecessor.
I’ve spent little time testing the new 3.1 model myself and haven’t noticed any obvious empathy issues so far – and I’d say it’s still too early to make any definitive statements on the matter.
While long-term use of Gemini 3.1 Pro will reveal the nuances of the mode, Google is keen to emphasize right now that this is just a preview as it “continues to make progress in areas like more ambitious agent workflows.”
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