‘Now, almost every image looks flat or cartoonish’: I saw Reddit arguing that Google’s AI image generator had got worse — so I ran my own comparison against ChatGPT

A recent Reddit thread has sparked debate among users, claiming that Google's AI image generator, Nano Banana 2, has deteriorated over time. Some users argue that the images produced by Nano Banana 2 are now "flat or cartoonish," regardless of how detailed the prompt may be. However, a closer examination of the situation reveals that this assertion may not be entirely accurate.

According to the source, Google hasn't officially updated Nano Banana 2 since February, and the Gemini AI model used for image generation didn't receive any changes when Gemini 3.6 Flash was released in July. Additionally, prior complaints about Nano Banana 2's quality deficiencies trace back to May, suggesting that the trend of dissatisfaction might not be a brand-new phenomenon.

One possible reason for the perceived decline in Nano Banana 2's image generation quality could be due to a change in the text model responsible for interpreting prompts. As the text model evolves, it could lead to noticeably different image outputs without any changes being made to the image generator itself.

To further investigate the issue, the author decided to compare the images generated by Nano Banana 2 and ChatGPT using the same prompts. In three separate tests involving a House of the Dragon dragon, a couple in a cafe, and a full English breakfast, the author found that ChatGPT's images appeared more natural and less "AI-generated" than those produced by Nano Banana 2.

While both models demonstrated strengths in rendering textures, the overall impression of ChatGPT's output was more convincing, suggesting that its recent improvements might contribute to the Reddit users' skepticism regarding Nano Banana 2's performance.