Google Gemini 3.1 Pro first impressions: a ‘Deep Think Mini’ with adjustable reasoning on demand
Sam Witteveen February 19, 2026 Credit: VentureBeat made with Flux 2 Pro on fal.aiFor the past three months, Google’s Gemini 3 Pro has held its ground as one of the most capable frontier models available. But in the fast-moving world of AI, three months is a lifetime — and competitors have not been standing still.Earlier today, Google released Gemini 3.1 Pro, an update that brings a key innovation to the company’s workhorse power model: three levels of adjustable thinking that effectively turn it into a lightweight version of Google’s specialized Deep Think reasoning system.The release marks the first time Google has issued a “point one” update to a Gemini model, signaling a shift in the company’s release strategy from periodic full-version launches to more frequent incremental…
