OK Google, this is pretty cool.
The tech giant’s latest AI trick is a feature called Nana Banana that creates frankly mind-blowing pics – and it’s free and easy to use. It even turned me into an ‘80s icon…and so much more.
Nano Banana turned me into miniature figurines[/caption]
Here’s what I look like – the regular, non-AI version of The Sun tech editor Sean Keach[/caption]
You might have already seen a Nano Banana pic and not realised.
It works using Google’s free Gemini app, which you can download on your iPhone or Android or access via a website.
Previously, you could ask Gemini to make a photo and it would. Now, it’s much better.
“What it’s good at is editing, specifically preserving people’s faces between images. We call that character consistency,” said Google’s David Sharon, speaking to The Sun.
So you can ask it to make changes to photos of yourself, and it’ll do it in a shockingly realistic way.
And you can even upload multiple photos, so you can pose in a picture with anyone…even yourself.
“We’ve seen people try out many different types of trends,” David, the product lead for Gemini image and video generation, told us.
“One of them is a figurine – so seeing yourself as a figurine with a box and a 3D rendering.
“We’ve seen people have a Polaroid of themselves, and sometimes hugging someone else.
“So, for example, Kim Kardashian hugging her younger self.”
He added: “We’re also seeing people bring back people that they miss, that are no longer with us.”
The feature went live in August and has now generated more than five billion pics.
And it doesn’t have to be photos of yourself either.
“One other thing that Nano Banana does well is restoring old photos,” David explained.
This is what I’d look like if I was a side character in Stranger Things, I guess[/caption]
“So you can take a black-and-white photo, wrinkled with water stains, and upload it, and ask it to bring it to 2025.
“And then colorise it, take out all of those stains, and take out all of those wrinkles.
“And relive that moment as if it was today.”
These AI-generated pics are strikingly realistic.
Look for the new banana icon – it’s the Nano Banana feature[/caption]
Of course, that leads to the obvious worry that fakes will be too good – and used to trick people.
Google says it’s absolutely possible that this could happen, but it’s added a couple of systems to try to limit this issue.
“You’ll see a visual watermark that anybody could see on every image that’s released from the Gemini app,” David said.
“That, though, is brittle. Someone can crop it out quite easily.
HOW TO USE NANO BANANA
Here’s the official Google guidance…
“Nano Banana can alter specific elements within an image without affecting the rest of the scene,” Google explained.
“Use natural language to replace an object, adjust placements or fix a sign to say something different.
“You can even upload a mockup of a UI and change the colour of a button or adjust a logo’s size without distorting the surrounding layout.
“The model can also generate images one after another, while “remembering” the previous images it created in a single conversation and the context.
“This allows for an iterative process where you can break down a complex task into smaller steps, like decorating an empty room one piece of furniture at a time.
“Instead of needing specific, lengthy prompts, you can give Nano Banana simple, conversational instructions.
“It understands the content and can apply its knowledge of the real world to perform complex tasks, like turning a simple sketch into a realistic scene, annotating real-world objects or restoring and colourising old photos with an understanding of historical context.
“Plus, you can combine up to three images to create something new. Experiment with merging disparate photo elements, or blend objects, colours and textures.”
“So we also have an invisible watermark that is on every image and video that is released by the Gemini app.
“Which you cannot see – but Google can decipher if that image or video was produced by Google.
“So any image or video that rises to a certain level of prominence, we will provide that service and say if it was generated by us or not.”
Some users will likely be worried about uploading photos to Google’s AI helper.
Gemini’s Nano Banana imagined me through the decades – it’s eerily convincing[/caption]
The good news is that once you’ve created an image, you can delete your history.
“So a user can go to Settings in my Activity, and they can keep activity on – or they can turn it off,” David explained.
“They can delete all of their previous activity. They can go to a single conversation and delete that conversation.
“And also, in the Gemini app, they can open a temporary window, kind of like Incognito Mode in Chrome.
You can use Gemini for free on the web or in the app[/caption]
“So a lot of tools to make sure your privacy is preserved to the amount you want it preserved.”
You can try Nano Banana – officially called Gemini 2.5 Flash Image – for free inside the Google Gemini app right now.
