Ready for another bleak application of generative AI? I'm not sure I am, but here we are with Gemini's 'Nano Banana'. Alright, alright, get it out of your system and let me explain. The aforementioned fun-size fruit is in fact the name of a major update to Gemini's AI image generation capabilities. The update is also known as Gemini 2.5 Flash, but I'm going to keep calling it Nano Banana in an attempt to stave off the existential dread about deepfakes.
Back in April, Google introduced native image editing to the Gemini app. Nano Banana upgrades this image editing model, meaning the app can now generate visual variations on a character or image subject with frankly alarming consistency. I would personally advise against feeding your likeness into any genAI model, but if you've always wondered what you'd look like as a matador, a 90s sitcom character, or even, heck, an artist, Google demonstrates how the Gemini App can now realise that vision.
