Why Google’s New AI Image Generator Could Give OpenAI a Run for Its Money

Google just dropped a major update for its AI image generation tech, enabling anyone to generate images with more accurate outcomes. In a blog post, Google revealed Gemini 2.5 Flash Image (also called nano-banana), its latest and greatest AI model for generating and editing images. Google says the new model gives users the ability to blend multiple images into a single image, maintain character consistency across multiple generations, and make more granular tweaks to specific parts of an image. One of the model’s new features is that ability to maintain character consistency, meaning that if you create a specific look for an AI-generated character, the character will maintain that look each time you generate a new image featuring them. “You can now place the same character into different environments,” Google wrote, “showcase a single product from multiple angles in new settings, or generate consistent brand assets, all while preserving the subject.” Gemini 2.5 Flash Image can also make more granular edits to images, like blurring a background, and changing the color of an item of clothing. Another major feature is the ability to fuse multiple images into a single image. Google says this could let people place an object into a room or to restyle an environment with a new color scheme or texture. To demonstrate, Google built a demo in which users can upload a picture of a room, upload images of products that they’d like to see in the room, and then drag the product image to the specific place where they want it to appear in the room. It’s not difficult to imagine people using this feature to see how a new appliance or piece of furniture will look in their home before committing to a purchase. Google also says that Gemini 2.5 Flash Image is particularly adept at sticking to visual templates, such as real estate listing cards, uniform employee badges, and trading cards. This kind of feature could also be used to create thumbnails for YouTube videos. Gemini 2.5 Flash actually debuted on website LMArena last week under the codename nano-banana. LMArena is a platform for evaluating an AI’s performance against other AIs, and big artificial intelligence companies often submit their new models to the site before publicly revealing them. Also of note is Gemini 2.5 Flash Image’s API price. According to Google, the model is priced at $30 per one million output tokens. In comparison, OpenAI’s image-generation API fees cost $40 per one million output tokens, making Google’s offering significantly cheaper. The new model can be used in the Gemini app and in Google AI Studio. BY BEN SHERRY @BENLUCASSHERRY