Again in late July, the group was arduous at work getting ready the primary model of the mannequin for launch, squashing pesky bugs and working evaluations. They’d already locked within the technical title — Gemini 2.5 Flash Picture — however one important element was nonetheless lacking: a public codename for LMArena.
LMArena is a public platform designed to guage AI fashions by means of nameless, crowd-sourced pairwise comparisons. Customers submit a immediate and get responses from two unidentified fashions. They vote for the higher response, after which the platform reveals which fashions have been used.
Whereas LMArena showcases launched fashions, it’s additionally a strong testing floor. Groups typically submit fashions nonetheless in improvement to collect early efficiency indicators and real-world, human suggestions. As a result of these fashions are nonetheless being refined, utilizing a codename is essential.
“We pushed the codename dialog till the final minute,” Product Supervisor Naina Raisinghani says. “So at 2:30 a.m., one of many PMs messaged me saying we wanted to submit it, and I stated, ‘OK, how about one thing humorous like ‘Nano Banana’?’ And so they’re like, ‘Yeah, positive. That is utterly nonsensical.’”
The rationale that concept got here to Naina? It’s a variation of her personal nickname. “A few of my pals name me Naina Banana, and others name me Nano as a result of I’m brief and I like computer systems. So I simply smushed my two nicknames collectively,” Naina says. “And it match as a result of it was a Flash mannequin.”
The group launched Nano Banana on LMArena in early August — and the mannequin was ripe for virality. Customers have been shocked by its highly effective modifying capabilities, like its capacity to keep up an individual’s likeness and expertly edit a number of photos collectively. Then, they noticed the title. And social media went bananas.
“Folks responded rather well. They have been so impressed with it, after which they discovered the title humorous, and that type of grew discourse,” Naina says.
