Gemma 2B multimodal model matches larger models without encoder

Gemma 4 12B ships encoder-free multimodal at 12B parameters and trades blows with models twice its size on community benchmarks. The encoder-free architecture is the part worth sitting with. Removing the vision encoder from the pipeline cuts inference overhead and simplifies deployment, and Google doing this at 12B suggests the design is mature enough for production, not just a research.