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

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 is TechRadar's Senior Writer, AI, bringing you the latest news on, and comprehensive coverage of, tech's biggest buzzword. An expert on all things Apple, he was previously iMore's How To Editor, and has a monthly column in MacFormat. He's based in Edinburgh, 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.