Nano Banana

Google has launched Playground, a browser-based platform that lets US adults create games from text prompts alone. It runs on Gemini, Nano Banana and Lyria, according to a Google spokesperson, and is free with higher weekly limits for Google One subscribers. Google and Unity also announced Unity Spark, a closed-beta tool for professional developers.

Ideogram has released Ideogram 4.5, an image model it claims edits only the area a user specifies and leaves the rest untouched. It offers four quality tiers from 0.8 to 22 cents per image, all at native 2K resolution, via the Ideogram platform and API. An open-weight release is promised but not yet dated.

Google has released the Gemini for desktop app on Windows, five months after its macOS launch in April 2026. The app offers instant AI access via an Alt + Space shortcut, including Gemini Spark agent features and Nano Banana image/video generation.

Google has begun broadly rolling out Pics, its AI image generation and editing app built on Nano Banana, to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers plus Business and Enterprise Workspace plans. The app supports object segmentation, text translation in 29 languages, and 4K upscaling, with direct integration into Docs and Slides.

Google announced users can now toggle off visible watermarks on AI-generated images, video, and songs from its Nano Banana, Omni, and Lyria models. Invisible SynthID watermarks and C2PA metadata remain in place for transparency.

Gemini 3.7 Flash has replaced 3.6 Flash in the Gemini app's model picker on Android, iOS, web, and macOS, following its debut in the Spark agent a day earlier. The app also now lets users turn off visible corner watermarks on AI-generated images, video, and music.

Adobe is testing AI-powered photo editing features in its experimental Project Indigo camera app for iPhone. The AI Playground, available to a small percentage of users for a limited time, includes object removal, style transfers, photo critiques, and custom prompt-based editing powered by Google's Nano Banana model.

Google released Nano Banana 2 Lite, an image generation model that produces images in four seconds at under four cents per thousand images. The model prioritizes speed and cost over quality, targeting developers building high-volume image pipelines.

Google released Nano Banana 2 Lite, an AI image generator that produces images in 4 seconds and costs $0.034 per 1,000 images. The model is optimized for high-volume workflows and replaces the original Nano Banana as Google's entry-level image generation offering.

Google announced Thursday that users can connect their Google Photos library to the Gemini chatbot for personalized image generation through its Nano Banana feature. Users must opt in to Personal Intelligence, and the feature will roll out to paid subscribers in the coming days.

Google released a native macOS app for its Gemini AI assistant, one day after launching a Windows version. The app supports keyboard shortcuts for quick access, screen sharing with files and documents, and image/video generation capabilities.