In August Google introduced Nano Banana, its image-editing model within the Gemini 2.5 Flash family. Since then the company says people have generated more than 5 billion images using this technology, and now it’s bringing it to products where you already work with photos and visual documentation. (blog.google)
What is Nano Banana and why you might care
Nano Banana is a model designed to edit and transform images quickly: from changing the style (for example to watercolor or anime) to generating contextual illustrations based on the material you have. Why does that matter? Because instead of learning complex editing tools, you can ask the AI to make the transformation for you and in seconds get creative variants of the same photo. (blog.google)
Nano Banana aims to bring advanced image editing into products you already use daily so creating is more immediate.
Where you'll see it first
-
In Google Search, access will be inside
Google Lens. You’ll be able to take a photo with Lens or choose one from your gallery, open the Create mode and apply the transformations you want. This makes editing available in the same place where you search for visual information. (blog.google) -
In NotebookLM, Nano Banana works under the hood to enhance Video Overviews. According to Google, it adds six new visual styles to summaries and generates contextualized illustrations from the sources you use. It also powers a format called Brief, designed for people who need very fast answers. (blog.google)
-
Photos is coming soon: Google says that in the following weeks it will bring Nano Banana to Google Photos, which promises to make touch-ups and creative versions easier directly from your library. (blog.google)
How it changes your workflow (concrete examples)
-
If you’re a content creator: imagine turning a product photo into five different styles (minimalist, watercolor, anime, technical illustration, retro) and testing which works best in your online store without opening Photoshop.
-
If you study or research: in NotebookLM you can get visual summaries of a video and receive illustrations that clarify complex concepts in seconds.
-
If you just want to upload family photos: with Lens or Photos you can transform an image to share on social media or save it in a themed album without long processes.
Risks, control, and quality
Google designs these features to be accessible, but it’s important to remember that automatic editing can introduce visual errors or alter sensitive information in images. Always review the result before publishing and use the undo tools if something doesn’t look right.
To wrap up
It’s not magic, it’s engineering put within your reach. Nano Banana is another step toward making image editing no longer the exclusive domain of experts and instead a daily tool, integrated where you already work and search. If you want to read Google’s official post and see the technical details, you can find it in the product note. (blog.google)