Nano Banana

2026-10-07

COMPANIES · 3 SOURCES · Google · TechCrunch AI · The Decoder

Google makes SynthID Detector available globally in English

Google (Google DeepMind) has expanded access to its SynthID Detector, making the tool available globally in English to let anyone check whether images, video, or audio were generated with AI by Google or partner providers (OpenAI, NVIDIA, Kakao, and soon Apple). The company says it has watermarked over 180 billion images and videos and 240,000 years of audio, and that SynthID is integrated into Search, the Gemini app, and Chrome, which together now handle over 1 million verification requests daily.

7.0

2026-10-07

MODELS · 1 SOURCE · The Decoder

Google releases Nano Banana 2.1 image model and halves generation prices

Google released Nano Banana 2.1, an image-generation and editing model running on Gemini 3.6 Flash that the company says improves visual quality, text rendering, character consistency, wide panoramas, and infographics while supporting up to 14 reference images and keeping up to four characters and ten objects consistent. Google also cut Nano Banana pricing roughly in half (for example, 1K images from 6.70¢ to 3.36¢), is rolling 2.1 out across products including the Gemini app, AI Mode in Google Search, Google AI Studio, Flow and Stitch, and will shut down the prior gemini-3.1-flash-image model on October 29, 2026.

8.0

2026-10-01

MODELS · 1 SOURCE · The Decoder

Ideogram launches Ideogram 4.5 claiming precise, localized image edits

Ideogram says its new model, Ideogram 4.5, can edit only the user-specified part of an image without altering surrounding pixels, addressing a common failure mode in image editing models. The model is available now on Ideogram's platform and API, offers four quality/price tiers (0.8–22¢ per image) at native 2K, lists partners including Picsart, Runway, Pika and Leonardo AI, and an open-weight release is promised soon.

6.0

2026-09-29

COMPANIES · 1 SOURCE · Google

LAS Art Foundation and Google Arts & Culture commission two AI‑informed artworks by Xin Liu and Eunjo Lee

LAS Art Foundation, in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture Lab, commissioned two artworks created during an online residency: Xin Liu’s nom nom (2026), inspired by Neural Cellular Automata and emergent artificial‑life research, and Eunjo Lee’s In Your Eyes, Before My Own (2026), which used tools including Nano Banana and Veo plus motion capture and Hangul phonetic mapping. Both works are presented on Google Arts & Culture and the LAS Art Foundation website.

3.0