Google brings ‘Nano Banana’ AI image model to Lens and Search AI Mode

Google has expanded access to its viral AI image tool “Nano Banana,” bringing the model to Google Lens and the Search app’s AI Mode, after a fast-rising debut inside the Gemini app last month. 

Tech site 9to5Google reports that the rollout has begun, with Google confirming that Nano Banana—formerly known as the Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model—now works in Lens and AI Mode. 

The initial release is in English in the United States and India on Android and iOS, with wider availability promised “soon.” 

The integration mirrors how users work with the tool inside Gemini. In Search’s AI Mode, a new “plus” icon at the lower left of the prompt box opens three options—Gallery, Camera and “Create Images” (marked with a banana emoji). 

Choosing the latter changes the hint text to “Describe your image,” allowing users to generate pictures from a text prompt or upload a photo for AI-powered editing. The resulting images can be downloaded and shared, and include a Gemini watermark. 

Within Google Lens, a new “Create” tab guides users to capture or import an image and then hand off to AI Mode for edits or generation. 9to5Google notes that the feature is visible for accounts that have opted into the AI Mode experiment via Search Labs. 

The Nano Banana model, developed by Google DeepMind, gained traction in the Gemini app in recent weeks, with users popularising realistic, stylised edits and composites—including celebrity-style selfies—across social media. 

Source: The Indian Express