Google’s Nano Banana 2 brings advanced AI image tools to free users

Google is bringing a more powerful version of its Nano Banana AI image model to free users. Nano Banana 2 (also known as Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) is rolling out today across the Gemini app and other Google AI platforms, making knowledge and rendering features that were previously exclusive to Nano Banana Pro available for everyone. Google says the update aims to bring “high-speed intelligence of Gemini Flash to visual generation,” making complex images faster, cheaper, and easier to generate. Like Nano Banana Pro, the Nano Banana 2 model utilizes real-time information, web search images, and Gemini’s real-world knowledge base. Google DeepMind product manager Naina Raisinghani says that this provides more relevant data for creating infographics or diagrams, and allows Nano Banana 2 to render “specific subjects” more accurately, though examples of such subjects were not provided. Other features inherited from Nano Banana Pro include the ability to generate images with accurate, legible text, and localized translation. These capabilities previously required a paid subscription to Google AI Plus, Pro, or Ultra to access in Gemini, but now they’ll be expanded to free Gemini users and AI Mode in Google Search. [Image: This AI “infographic” image example generated with Nano Banana 2 makes me nervous, but hey, at least the text is readable? https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Infographic-1.png?quality=90&strip=all] Nano Banana 2 also provides more creative control over generated images compared to the original Nano Banana model. Google says that visual improvements include more vibrant lighting, richer textures, and sharper details, alongside the ability to adhere to complex image requests more strictly. The appearance of up to five characters and 14 objects can also be maintained more consistently in a single workflow, and users get “full control” over aspect ratios and image resolution, ranging from 512px up to 4K. The new Nano Banana 2 model will replace the option for Nano Banana Pro across the Gemini app’s Fast, Thinking, and Pro generation modes. Google says AI Pro and Ultra subscribers will still be able to access Nano Banana Pro “for specialized tasks” by selecting the three-dot menu on images to regenerate them. The new model is also rolling out to AI Mode in Search, Google Lens, the Google app, and browsers for mobile and desktop, alongside being the new default image generation model in Google’s AI video tool, Flow.