What is Google’s mysterious nano banana AI in Gemini app?

Google's mysterious "nano banana" AI model is now officially revealed as the Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, an advanced AI-powered image editor integrated into the Gemini app and other Google AI platforms.

This model gained early acclaim anonymously on LMArena, a crowdsourced AI leaderboard, before its official launch. It solves a longstanding challenge in AI image editing: maintaining consistent appearances of subjects across multiple edits.

The Nano Banana AI stands out by preserving the recognizable likeness of faces, pets, and objects during complex image transformations. Unlike many AI tools that distort key details when changing simple elements like clothing color or background, this model keeps subjects visually consistent even through drastic changes.

How does Google’s Nano Banana AI improve image editing?

This model tackles a critical flaw in existing AI editors: subtle inconsistencies in edited images that make them feel "close but not quite the same."

Gemini 2.5 Flash Image ensures that faces, animals, and other subjects retain their unique characteristics, eliminating uncanny distortions during editing.

For users, this means their photos feel authentic and true to life, even after multiple modifications.

Did you know?
Google's nano banana AI was initially anonymous on LMArena and topped image editing leaderboards before its identity was revealed.

What new features come with Gemini 2.5 Flash Image?

Beyond fixing consistency, Google added advanced capabilities such as photo blending, allowing users to merge separate images seamlessly, for example, placing a person and a pet together in one scene.

Multi-turn editing supports step-by-step changes without restarting from scratch, and design mixing lets users transfer visual patterns from one image element to another, such as applying butterfly wing motifs to clothing.

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Google's approach to solving AI image editing challenges

Led by product lead Nicole Brichtova from Google DeepMind, the nano banana AI is a result of focused research to overcome the subtle flaws in AI-generated images.

Google's approach emphasizes user trust and realistic output, targeting those who want creative control without sacrificing image integrity.

Advanced capabilities of the nano banana AI in Gemini

The model is embedded across Google’s AI ecosystem, including the Gemini API, Google AI Studio, and Vertex AI. All generated or edited images carry a visible watermark and Google’s invisible SynthID system for provenance.

The technology positions Google competitively among AI image generation leaders, offering unprecedented precision and flexibility for creators and everyday users.

This breakthrough promises to reshape how people interact with AI image tools, making edits more reliable and visually satisfying, with broad applications from social media to professional content creation.