ChatGPT is a wildly popular Large Language Model (LLM) with an app that has sat atop many storefronts for months on end. It has more than 700 million users sending more than 2.5 billion messages and requests per day.
What did it take to usurp ChatGPT‘s dominance? Something called “Nano Banana,” which is available exclusively in Google’s Gemini AI app.
Looking at the top US charts for iPhone and iPad, Google Gemini sits at the very top of the free section, trailed by ChatGPT. The same goes for the Google Play store, with Gemini now followed by ChatGPT.
Nano Banana arrived as a new feature in Google’s August 26 Gemini update. In an associated blog post, Google’s Gemini Imgage Product Lead, Nicole Brichtova, explained that the “new image editing model from Google DeepMind” allows you to “transform images in amazing new ways.”
The release notes explain what the new feature can do, but they don’t express the viral appeal that has already produced more than half a billion images in a couple of weeks (via The Independent).
According to Google’s release notes:
Experience a new level of creativity with our latest image generation and editing model. We’ve improved how Gemini follows your instructions, making it easier to get the results you want. Upload multiple images to combine concepts, borrow creative elements, or blend scenes to create something unique. Plus, when you use your own selfie, Gemini does a better job of keeping your look consistent, so you can star in any adventure you can imagine.
One of the biggest challenges with AI image generation is keeping a part of an image looking the same as it’s edited.
Say you want a picture of yourself standing on top of Mount Everest. The first version isn’t quite right, so you keep adding prompts. Attempting to tweak the image usually results in something unrecognizable, especially after multiple attempts.
That changes with Nano Banana. If you upload a picture of a person or a pet, the subject will keep looking the same, no matter how many costumes or location changes you put it through.
Even more funky is Nano Banana’s ability to create new images from separate photos. Have a loved one you haven’t seen in a while? Miss an old pet who’s no longer around? You can now put two subjects together in an image, all the while keeping them looking like they should.
Google also shows off the ability to mix image styles. Want a butterfly’s wing design on your dress as you walk on the moon? No problem. Want to make yourself into a flawless 3D figurine, as our colleagues at TechRadar tested out? That also seems fairly easy, as long as you have the right prompt.
These images look hyper-realistic, and one of my first thoughts had to do with the tech being used for nefarious purposes. However, Google says that “all images created or edited in the Gemini app include a visible watermark, as well as our invisible SynthID digital watermark, to clearly show they are AI-generated.”
Why is Nano Banana going viral?
Nano Banana’s sudden popularity can be attributed to its ease of use, its powerful editing capabilities, and the speed at which it can achieve rather complex edits.
The fact that it’s just another part of the free Gemini app certainly has something to do with it as well. Once created, the AI images can be quickly and easily shared on social media.
It’s getting tough to open a social media app and not see a 3D image that was almost certainly created with Nano Banana, shared countless times by other users who are also hopping on board.
The consistency of nano banana is supreme. It’s a new era. from r/singularity
One Reddit user on the r/Singularity board said, “The consistency of Nano Banana is supreme. It’s a new era,” while showing off the tool’s ability to rotate a subject to face a camera.
In the replies, another user pointed out that “it’s scarier than cool,” noting that “the implications this will have on the world are crazy.”
Google claims that Gemini has gained more than 23 million new users since the launch of Nano Banana through the app, and I expect that number to continue to rise as the craze continues.
