diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bb0d8ea2d..46575ee85 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,19 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [2.18.0](https://github.com/googleapis/python-genai/compare/v2.17.0...v2.18.0) (2026-08-11)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* Add interaction_status to LiveServerContent ([66e224c](https://github.com/googleapis/python-genai/commit/66e224c39c9527e0fef3a4f049ac33ec941e2f99))
+* **api:** Make the deferred service tier publicly available on Vertex ([e1f7c40](https://github.com/googleapis/python-genai/commit/e1f7c40f0a831f25ee71294fc8c195576d5fd126))
+* Enable json schema in FunctionDeclaration parser ([62d50d6](https://github.com/googleapis/python-genai/commit/62d50d6f172da5d6efa30838ab92da95b1327b5e))
+
+
+### Performance Improvements
+
+* Build model validators on first use instead of at import ([66bfe95](https://github.com/googleapis/python-genai/commit/66bfe956f7a8b6c8d7c7eb949a9b6a499a4e2860)), refs [#2784](https://github.com/googleapis/python-genai/issues/2784)
+
 ## [2.17.0](https://github.com/googleapis/python-genai/compare/v2.16.0...v2.17.0) (2026-08-06)
 
 
diff --git a/google/genai/version.py b/google/genai/version.py
index 602b199e4..5b34e530c 100644
--- a/google/genai/version.py
+++ b/google/genai/version.py
@@ -13,4 +13,4 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-__version__ = '2.17.0' # x-release-please-version
+__version__ = '2.18.0' # x-release-please-version
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b58055fa4..0987a777e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ requires = ["setuptools", "wheel", "twine>=6.1.0", "packaging>=24.2", "pkginfo>=
 
 [project]
 name = "google-genai"
-version = "2.17.0"
+version = "2.18.0"
 description = "GenAI Python SDK"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = "Apache-2.0"