Google on Thursday introduced an upgraded version of its viral Nano Banana image-generation model, highlighting improved speed as the tech giant works to draw more users to its AI offerings.

The ⁠model, called Nano Banana 2, is being rolled out across products, including the Gemini ​app, AI Mode and Lens features ​on ⁠Search, and Flow, its AI-powered video tool, the Alphabet-owned company said.

The launch is Google's latest in a series of moves that have propelled the company to the forefront of the AI race, helping it better compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT after suffering a string of embarrassments initially. The success has fueled a 47% surge in its stock ⁠in ⁠the past six months.

Google rolled out the Nano Banana AI image editor in August, which quickly became a viral sensation, attracting 13 million first-time users to the Gemini app in just four days in September. By mid-October, it had generated more than 5 billion images.

The tech ⁠giant followed that with the release of the upgraded Nano Banana Pro in November.

Nano Banana 2 leans on Gemini's ​faster and cheaper models known as Flash, which allows ​quicker image generation and editing, Google said, adding that it also has better instruction-following capabilities ⁠and ‌delivers ‌sharper details.

In November, Google released its ⁠Gemini 3 AI model, whose ‌success prompted rival OpenAI to issue an internal "code red" to ​push teams to ⁠accelerate development.

Gemini 3 has significantly boosted ⁠user engagement, helping the Gemini app capture more ⁠than 750 ​million monthly active users at the end of December.