Mysterious new ‘Red Panda’ AI image generator appears out of nowhere – is this a new DALL-E?

So another day, and yet another mysterious AI model screams up the leaderboards in a flurry of activity. The leaderboard in question is the Artificial Analysis Image Arena, a resource commonly used to evaluate the quality of AI image models when they reach the market.

The idea is simple. Model owners submit their tech for trial by a public jury. Images are generated through text prompts, and the image results of two different models are displayed side by side on the arena page for public voting.

These arenas typically deliver expected outcomes from mainstream players like Flux, Midjourney, Ideogram and StableDiffusion. But occasionally a new model breaks through, like this Red_Panda, and destroys the competition.

At this point, rampant social media speculation begins until the identity of the new entrant is revealed. Right now there’s a fevered discussion going on about whether the panda is the latest Midjourney variant, something from OpenAI or a complete unknown.

How does the AI arena work?

The images are anonymous, so no one knows what model they’re voting for, it’s just a matter of personal taste. The totals are tallied on an ongoing basis, with the leaderboard continually updated from the results.

It’s a great way for companies to test new models before releasing them to the public, and it is, of course, great for launch marketing if you’ve come up with something special.

The last speculation was around a model called Blueberry that turned out to be Flux 1.1 Pro from Black Forest Labs. This time around my money is on a new model from the Far East.

The big Chinese players like Baidu and Tencent have yet to stamp their mark on the image generation sector. It also makes sense if we remember that there are some stunning Chinese AI video generation platforms currently dominating the market — like Kling and MiniMax, who are slugging it out for the top of the tree.

Adding a world-leading AI image model would fit in with the China’s clear intent to keep up with the leading companies from the West, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work.

I did my test on the Arena and the Red_Panda model easily came top. And bear in mind I am probably a pretty generic user. Right now I use Flux models because they’re accurate, free and do text really well. I’ve also rated Ideogram highly in the past.

The last model to burst onto the scene like this was Flux 1.1 Pro, and what a beauty that turned out to be. So perhaps we’re about to see a step-change uplift in the quality of our AI art. At that point the other important fact will be if it’s a closed or open source model. Never a dull moment in this game.

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