The newest MAI Image model is MAI-Image-2.6-Flash, released on September 4, 2026. It has been 50 days since then, longer than the line's usual gap of 26 days.
How long it has been since the last release against the line's usual gap and its recent ones — the rhythm, not a date.
Latest: MAI-Image-2.6-Flash · Sep 4, 2026
Every Monday, only when something shipped: the AI models that came out, what each one changed, and which lines are due next.
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Newest first — what each version changed versus the one before, in Microsoft's own numbers.
A faster version of MAI-Image-2.6 that costs about half as much per image and scores 47 Elo lower in Artificial Analysis blind image comparisons.
Compared with MAI-Image-2.6 · Microsoft's larger model of the same generation
Scores lower than MAI-Image-2.6 in blind image comparisons
Artificial Analysis Text to Image Arena — people pick the better image without knowing the model
1119
vs 1166 for MAI-Image-2.6 · 47 Elo lower · Artificial Analysis, Oct 2026
Costs about half as much per image as MAI-Image-2.6
Price per 1,000 images — hosted API price tracked by Artificial Analysis
$19.50
▲ vs $38.90 for MAI-Image-2.6 · 50% cheaper
Microsoft's updated image model scores 46 Elo points above MAI-Image-2.5 in Artificial Analysis blind comparisons and costs about a fifth less per image; it is in Public Preview on Microsoft Foundry.
Compared with MAI-Image-2.5 · the model it replaces
Scores higher than MAI-Image-2.5 in blind image comparisons
Artificial Analysis Text to Image Arena — people pick the better image without knowing the model
1148
▲ up from 1102 · +46 Elo · #5 on Artificial Analysis, Sep 2026
Costs about a fifth less per image than the model it replaces
Price per 1,000 images — hosted API price tracked by Artificial Analysis
$38.90
▲ down from $48.10 for MAI-Image-2.5 · 19% cheaper
Launched at No. 2 for image editing on Arena, unveiled at Build 2026.
Microsoft's first image model built entirely in-house: it debuted in LMArena's text-to-image top 10 (Oct 2025) and launched in Bing Image Creator and Copilot.