Gemini's 'Nano Bananas' AI Image Editing Is Fun, but I Ran Into Too Many Slipups

I’ve been trying out the image editing capabilities in Google’s latest generative AI model, and you can, too. Named Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, it upgrades the ability to edit your photos natively in Gemini. 

AI enthusiasts have referred to it as the “nano bananas” model, spurred on by a series of teasers from Google execs. Google has been investing heavily in its generative media models this year, dropping updated versions of its image and video generator models at its annual I/O developers conference. Google’s AI video generator Veo 3 stunned with synchronized audio, a first among the AI giants. And creators have made more than 100 million AI videos with Google’s AI filmmaker tool, Flow. 

I’ve spent a lot of time testing AI creative software, and I was excited to see Google’s latest drop amid all the banana fanfare. But my testing of 2.5 Flash Image showed that just because something has a flashy entrance doesn’t mean it’ll always lives up to its hype. Here’s how my experience with Gemini nano bananas went: the good, the bad and the frustrating.

What really didn’t work

There are serious limitations to Gemini bananas. It automatically generated square images, and follow-up prompts asking for images to be adapted into other dimensions were ignored or failed.

Gemini nano bananas struggled to generate images in different dimensions. Resizing and cropping images is a core photo editing process, but Gemini didn’t — or couldn’t — handle simple sizing guidelines in my prompts.

Overall, Gemini nano bananas proved to me that Google is serious about continuing to dominate in generative media. But it has significant pitfalls, with too big a focus on generating new elements rather than using AI to improve and tweak common photo issues. For now, the nano bananas model is best suited for Gemini fans who want to make big edits quickly. For those of us looking for more precise tools, we’ll have to wait for Google’s next big update or find another program.

Gemini nano bananas availability, pricing and privacy

You don’t need to do anything to access the new model; it’s automatically added to the base Gemini 2.5 Flash model. Gemini is available for free, with more models and higher usage caps available in Google’s AI plans starting at $20 per month. 

If you’re a paying subscriber, you may also be able to access the model through Google AI Studio. From there, all you have to do is upload an image and type out your prompt. Each prompt uses anywhere from one to two thousand tokens, depending on the level of detail required. Adobe Express and Firefly users can also access the new model now. 

Google’s Gemini privacy policy says it can use the information you upload for improving its AI products, which is why the company recommends avoiding uploading sensitive or private information. The company’s AI prohibitive use policy also outlaws the creation of illegal or abusive material.

For more, check out the best AI image generators and everything announced at the Made by Google Pixel 10 event.