ByteDance, Alibaba launch new AI image tools to rival Google

TikTok parent ByteDance has unveiled its latest generative AI image model that it says undercuts the popular Nano Banana image editor from Alphabet’s Google, reports the South China Morning Post. This comes on the same day as rival Alibaba Cloud releases its own Qwen-Image-2.0.

Chinese short-video giant ByteDance said its Seedream 5.0 image model ships with stronger reasoning capabilities, improved accuracy and enhanced edit control, helping it compete with Google’s Nano Banana at a lower cost, according to a post published on CapCut’s X account.

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing unit of Alibaba Group, released Qwen-Image-2.0, its first model to integrate image generation and editing functions for a streamlined user experience.