Wednesday, 19 August 2026 No. 3 Updated
THE VISSION
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Deprecation

Google shuts down its Imagen 4 API endpoints, pushing developers to Gemini

The three Imagen 4 generation endpoints stopped working August 17, and Google directs developers to its Gemini-native image models as the replacement path.

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The short version
  • Google deprecated and shut down its three Imagen 4 API endpoints, standard, ultra and fast generation, on August 17, 2026.
  • Calls to the retired imagen-4.0-generate-001, imagen-4.0-ultra-generate-001 and imagen-4.0-fast-generate-001 model IDs now return a hard error rather than a warning.
  • Google is directing developers toward its Gemini-native image models, marketed under the Nano Banana name, as the replacement path.

The three Imagen 4 generation endpoints stopped working August 17, and Google directs developers to its Gemini-native image models as the replacement path.