ByteDances New AI Image Generator Is Frighteningly Realistic
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has just launched a new AI image generator, and its capabilities are so advanced that telling fact from fiction is becoming nearly impossible. This new model, named Seedream 4.0, is already outperforming major competitors, including Google's recently popular Nano Banana.
Key takeaways about this new AI model include:
- It has topped the Artificial Analysis AI benchmark for both text-to-image and image editing.
- The realism of Seedream 4.0 is so convincing that it's difficult to identify its creations as AI-generated.
- The service is currently available for approximately $30 per 1,000 image generations.
A New Champion in AI Image Generation
According to new results from the AI benchmark platform Artificial Analysis, Seedream 4.0 has emerged as the "new leading image model," surpassing Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash, also known as Nano-Banana. The benchmark operates by having users vote on which of two images is better without knowing which AI model created them. Seedream 4.0 achieved a top ELO score of 1,205, narrowly beating Nano Banana's 1,201.
For those interested in trying it, Seedream 4.0 is accessible through AI platforms like fal.ai and Replicate, or directly from ByteDance.
Seedream 4.0 is the new leading image model across both the Artificial Analysis Text to Image and Image Editing Arena, surpassing Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash (Nano-Banana), across both!Seedream 4.0 is the latest release from Bytedance Seed, and is a substantial improvement on… pic.twitter.com/I46tY58zJh — September 11, 2025
What's Real Anymore?
Typically, AI-generated images have subtle tells or an "uncanny valley" feeling that gives them away. However, the images produced by Seedream 4.0 seem to lack these giveaways entirely. A Reddit user shared several images generated by the model, and the results are stunningly—and terrifyingly—realistic.
While clever prompting techniques like adding image grain or filters help trick the eye, these images are so convincing they could easily be passed off as genuine photographs on social media. This seamless realism is precisely what makes the technology so unsettling.
The line is blurring. With so many images on platforms like Instagram already heavily edited or featuring AI influencers, finding authentic photos is becoming a challenge. The rapid advancement of this technology is staggering; just a year ago, most AI creations were easily identifiable. Today, they are virtually indistinguishable from reality to the human eye. This raises concerns about a new wave of misinformation, where younger generations, in particular, may be susceptible to deception by fake images.
