Midjourney has a new challenger for the best AI image generator but nobody has heard of it before

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A new contender?

A red panda wearing a crown generated by Adobe Firefly
(Image credit: Adobe Firefly)

Midjourney has a new challenger for the title of best AI image generator, and it’s a model nobody has heard of before.

The AI image generator in question is called “red_panda” and is currently top of the crowdsourced Artificial Analysis rankings for text-to-image generation. Artificial Analysis’ arena leaderboard is created by giving users the choice between two images and asking them which one they prefer. It’s all down to a matter of taste but as it stands red_panda has a 79% win rate beating out rivals like Black Forest Labs, Ideogram, and Midjourney.

So what is red_panda you ask? Well, no one actually knows but Artificial Analysis can be a great way to test AI models before launching to the general public and this may be the case here. The name of the AI could give us a hint, however, after all, red pandas are found in the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. Could this AI image generation model be a new contender from a large Chinese company?

A new contender

As it stands, red_panda has a 1244 ELO and has been selected 1492 times, which is way less than the next best AI model, Black Forest Labs’ FLUX1.1 Pro. ELO is a skill-based system found in online gaming and chess, which compares performance based on how many times something wins or loses. With a 79% win rate, it’s fair to say that red_panda is definitely appealing to the eye.

Red_panda might be a new Chinese AI model, or it could be the next evolution in a major player like Midjourney currently in development before its official reveal. One thing is for sure, whatever red_panda is we should know soon as topping any leaderboard is great marketing for the launch of a new product.

As it stands, Midjourney is TechRadar’s pick for the best AI image generator but we’ll be sure to test red_panda out as soon as it becomes available to see if it truly is as good as Artificial Analysis’ users think it is.

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John-Anthony Disotto
John-Anthony Disotto
Senior Writer AI

John-Anthony Disotto is TechRadar's Senior Writer, AI, ensuring you get the latest information on Tech's biggest buzzword. An expert in Apple, he was previously iMore's How To Editor and has a monthly column in MacFormat. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and is an award-winning journalist with years of experience in editorial.