Google’s Nano Banana is quite a hit. Everyone’s loving it. It started the saree trend, the desktop toy trend, and now the mole-scare.

Here are my two takes.

1. Image manipulation using Google’s Nano Banana

  • Go to Gemini. In the left corner, you’ll see “Flash 2.5” right under “Gemini”. This means you are already in the Nano Banana space.
  • Upload and ask for a specific change (say, you upload an image of biscuits in a tray and you ask it to change the biscuits to a huddle of pups.)
  • Download the transformed image.

I followed the above process and you can check the results here.

A tiger is sitting between two vegetable crates - An example of how Nano Banana replaces objects in images.

2. Image Creation by Nano Banana and Video Creation by Grok Imagine

A few days later, I thought of using Nano Banana and Grok Imagine to build a short, fun video.

Here’s is the process.

  • First, create an image in Nano Banana (same as earlier.)
  • Open Grok Imagine (I use it on my phone) and select the image.
  • Allow the default animation to be created.
  • Then click the “Redo” button to customize or add a dialogue.
  • Download the animation. Usually, it downloads as an MP4 file. If it doesn’t, you can convert it to MP4 using Adobe Express.

I followed the above process, and you can view the results here.

A nano banana graphic showing a princess and a pauper looking out of the windows in their banana towers. Love is in the air. Links to a Grok Imagine video created using this graphic.

Semi-Philosophical Musings:

AI is making it easier for us to make eye-popping graphics and videos by doing virtually nothing, except coming up with an idea and typing it out (or, by talking about it). I think that right now, we all are like those first-year students of wizardry at Hogwarts. We’ve just been given our magic wands that we are waving at everything we come across.

The question we must ask is: Are we allowing ourselves to be swept away by the glitz and glamor of AI? Or are we putting up mental guardrails for ourselves?
We must also allow us to think whether we are becoming immune to surprise. Does it surprise us anymore to see a tiger between the vegetable crates? I don’t think it does. The term “fantastical” is quickly losing its magic.

So, how are you keeping your brain safe?
My method isn’t a secret. I’ve been talking about it to anyone who’d listen. Let it do everything else for you, but don’t let it write for you, because it would just make AI become smarter, and you, dumber.

Don’t let AI write for you. Please.