Nano Banana 2 Lite

Simon Willison's Blog Models
google-deepmind gemini image-generation nano-banana ai-model fast-inference cheap

Summary

Google DeepMind released Nano Banana 2 Lite (also known as Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image), positioned as the fastest and cheapest Gemini image model, optimized for speed and scale.

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Cached at: 06/30/26, 11:37 PM

# Nano Banana 2 Lite Source: [https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jun/30/nano-banana-2-lite/](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jun/30/nano-banana-2-lite/) 30th June 2026 \- Link Blog **[Nano Banana 2 Lite](https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-image/flash-lite/)**\([via](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48735444)\) Also known as Gemini 3\.1 Flash Lite Image \(`gemini\-3\.1\-flash\-lite\-image`[in their API](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/image-generation)\), this is the "fastest and cheapest Gemini image model, engineered for velocity and scale"\. I[used AI studio](https://aistudio.google.com/app/prompts/new_chat?model=gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image)to run this prompt: > `Do a where's Waldo style image but it's where is the raccoon holding a ham radio` ![Densely illustrated "Where's Waldo"-style cartoon of a woodland festival filled with anthropomorphic animals (bears, foxes, badgers, rabbits, squirrels, owls) under a banner reading "FOREE'S FESTIVAL" and another reading "FOREST FIVAL," with bunting flags strung between trees, a Ferris wheel on the right, market stalls including one labeled "ACORN FAIR," signs reading "BANDSTAND," "HAM RADIO MEET" (appearing twice), and a stage where a bear plays guitar, a raccoon uses a ham radio, a badger plays drums, an owl looks on, and a fox plays trumpet, with crowds of animals wandering forest paths between trees and mountains in the background.](https://static.simonwillison.net/static/2026/nano-banana-2-lite-raccoon.jpg) I like that one better than[the results I got from the other Nano Banana models](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/21/gpt-image-2/#nano-banana-2-and-pro)when I tried this back in April\. It spelled Forest Festival wrong in two different ways though\.

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