Microsoft’s MAI-Image-2.5 pulls even with Google’s Nano Banana 2 on benchmarks
Microsoft shipped an update to its MAI image model. MAI-Image-2.5 currently sits at number three on Arena’s text-to-image leaderboard, according to the MAI team. That puts it on par with Google’s Nano Banana 2, though still a clear step behind OpenAI‘s Image-2.
Microsoft calls it the strongest MAI image model yet, with major gains over MAI-Image-2 in text rendering, stylized illustrations, and commercial visuals. It’s also said to follow prompts more closely and produce more consistent lighting, depth, and spatial relationships. Microsoft is pitching it for professional use cases like product photography and brand design.
MAI-Image-2.5 is available now on Arena and should roll out to the MAI Playground and Foundry within two weeks.
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