New Delhi, Feb. 26 -- Google on Thursday unveiled a successor to its viral Nano Banana image generation model, touting faster performance as the search-engine behemoth pushes to attract more users to its AI tools.

The model, called Nano Banana 2, is being rolled out across products, including the Gemini app, AI Mode and Lens features on Search, and Flow, its AI-powered video tool, the Alphabet-owned company said.

The launch is Google's latest in a series of moves that have propelled the company to the forefront of the AI race, helping it better compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT after suffering a string of embarrassments initially. The success has fueled a 47% surge in its stock in the past six months.

Google rolled out the Nano Banana AI i...