TikTok owner’s new AI image generator is the best I’ve ever seen – and it’s terrifying

• A new image-generation model from ByteDance tops Artificial Analysis’ AI benchmark
• Seedream 4.0 looks so real I can barely tell what’s real anymore
• The AI model is currently $30 for 1,000 image generations

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has released a new AI image generator – and it’s so real that I have no idea what’s fake anymore.

In fact, the new AI model, Seedream 4.0, is better than Google’s latest offering, Nano Banana, which has taken the internet by storm over the last few weeks – we jumped on the latest image-prompt craze to put it to the test^[1].

AI benchmark, Artificial Analysis shared new results that show Seedream 4.0 is “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!”

The benchmark pits images against each other and asks users to decide which one is better, without knowing what AI model has generated them. Seedream 4.0 tops the leaderboard with an ELO of 1,205, just slightly surpassing Nano Banana with 1,201.

Seedream 4.0 is currently available via AI platforms such as fal.ai, Replicate, and directly from ByteDance^[2] itself. Currently, the image-generation model costs $30 for 1,000 images.

The images created by the AI model are so realistic that it’s almost impossible to tell if they are fake or not. In fact, one Reddit user shared their images generated from Seedream 4.0, and the results are genuinely terrifying.

What’s real anymore?

Normally, when I see an AI image on social media I can tell straight away that it’s not real – and even if it does look incredibly realistic, there’s an ‘uncanny valley’ feeling that I just can’t shake.

Below, you can see a range of photos created by Seedream 4.0 and shared on Reddit by user Thatunkownuser2465^[4]. When I look at the images, I don’t get any feeling of uncertainty – they just look real.

Obviously, the prompts have used clever techniques to try and fool the mind’s eye, such as image grain or fun filters, but I’m not sure I’d even think twice if I saw any of these shared on social media – and that scares me.

What do you think? Are these images that much more impressive than Nano Banana? Let us know in the comments below.

Nowadays, the majority of the images you see on Instagram may as well be AI-generated, and probably are. From fake influencers to heavily edited images, it’s almost impossible to find real photos online these days.

The evolution of AI image generators has been staggering. About a year ago, every generated image was clearly AI slop, but now they’re essentially indiscernible to the human eye. Older generations have been targeted by fake emails and scam calls for years; now it may be the turn of the newer generation to be tricked by fake images.

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