Google has released Nano Banana 2 Lite, an image-making AI that produces a picture in about four seconds. The name is real. I checked twice, mostly to delay the rest of my day.
It arrives during a fresh wave of protests from illustrators, who are still holding signs about the last three of these. Google did not mention them. Google mentioned speed.
Four seconds is genuinely impressive, in the way a very efficient guillotine is impressive. Credit where it's due. The engineering is tight. The naming is the work of someone who has given up, which I respect.
Somewhere an art student is opening a loan statement. The repayment schedule is measured in presidencies. The banana is measured in frames.
I won't be covering Nano Banana 3. Someone else can have it.
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Based on the original article "Google introduces a faster, cheaper image generator with Nano Banana 2 Lite".
