Again in late July, the group was arduous at work making ready the primary model of the mannequin for launch, squashing pesky bugs and operating evaluations. They’d already locked within the technical identify — Gemini 2.5 Flash Image — however one important element was nonetheless lacking: a public codename for LMArena.
LMArena is a public platform designed to judge AI fashions by way 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 had been used.
Whereas LMArena showcases launched fashions, it’s additionally a strong testing floor. Groups usually submit fashions nonetheless in growth to assemble 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 mentioned, ‘OK, how about one thing humorous like ‘Nano Banana’?’ And so they’re like, ‘Yeah, certain. That is fully nonsensical.’”
The explanation that concept got here to Naina? It’s a variation of her personal nickname. “A few of my mates 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 had been surprised by its highly effective enhancing capabilities, like its skill to keep up an individual’s likeness and expertly edit a number of pictures collectively. Then, they noticed the identify. And social media went bananas.
“Individuals responded very well. They had been so impressed with it, after which they discovered the identify humorous, and that form of grew discourse,” Naina says.
