Introducing MAI-Image-2: for limitless creativity Introducing MAI-Image-2: for limitless creativity

March 19, 2026

Models

MSI team

Imagery generated with MAI-Image-2

Ranked the #3 model family on the Arena.ai leaderboard.

Today, we’re announcing MAI-Image-2 — pushing MAI into the top three text-to-image labs in the world on the Arena.ai leaderboard.

You can try it now in the MAI Playground, where you can experiment with the latest available MAI models and share feedback directly with our teams.

Built with creatives, for creative work

For MAI-Image-2 we spoke with photographers, designers, and visual storytellers who made it clear where we could make the biggest difference for everyday creative work.

Enhanced photorealism

MAI-Image-2 is built for creatives who want images that feel like they exist in the world, with natural light, accurate skin tones, environments that feel lived-in. Creatives can now spend less time fixing in post-production and more time making.

A close-up of a person's face with closed eyes, soft sunlight illuminating their skin. Shadows from nearby branches or leaves create intricate patterns across their face.

Close-up of a human eye's iris, showing detailed, radiating yellow and brown fibers around the dark black pupil. The intricate patterns and vivid colors create a dramatic, abstract effect.

A glacier wall towering like a cathedral interior, deep blue ice with light refracting through layers, tiny human figure at base for scale, cinematic, cold mist in air, hyper-real detail

A person in red winter gear stands inside a massive blue ice cave, surrounded by textured, translucent ice walls and illuminated by sunlight streaming through the arching entrance above.

Reliable in-image text generation

From poster type to the sign in the background of a scene, text can be a key part of imagery. MAI-Image-2 enables consistent creation of infographics, slides, diagrams, and more, with little lost between direction and creation.

Rich, detailed scene generation

Some of the most exciting creative work lives in the strange, the cinematic, the hyper-detailed. MAI-Image-2 is built for that space: surreal concepts, ornate compositions, and ambitious worlds, turning imagination into images.

Abstract modernist design with a red circle, beige vertical and diagonal lines on a black background. Bold text "MODERNISM" appears vertically on the right, with a brief definition in white text on the lower left.

Image of three vibrant oranges with green leaves. Overlaid text reads: "THE IAM MAI CAFÉ. Breakfast, Lunch. Open 9am to 3pm. 03.19.2026." Menu items with prices and bottomless mimosas are also listed.

Typographic layouts and posters can be created with specific prompts on style, imagery, fonts, colors, and more.

A rider on a galloping horse jumps over an obstacle, with an orange, green, and white background. Text below announces "Jumping International CSI 8*" on 13-15 April 2026 and highlights "SAINT FLASH.

Make something today with MAI-Image-2

Preview MAI-Image-2 today on MAI Playground and let us know what you think. We genuinely want to hear from you!

MAI-Image-2 is beginning to roll out on Copilot and Bing Image Creator.  API access is available today for select Microsoft customers, like WPP, who need image generation at scale, and will be open to any developer on Microsoft Foundry soon. If you are interested in exploring MAI-Image-2 for commercial use, fill out an application and we’ll follow up with more details.

There’s much more to come from the Microsoft AI Superintelligence team,  stay tuned.

Try MAI-Image-2

A collage of 16 diverse images, including a ballerina, butterfly wing, person jumping, misty mountains, bubbles over water, seashell, jellyfish, snowflake, green hills, pleated skirt, sand dunes, animal eye, feather, water drop, and ocean waves.

Build the Future With Us Build the Future With Us

We’re a lean, fast-moving lab made up of some of the world’s most talented minds. We have an exciting roadmap of compute at MAI, with our next-generation GB200 cluster now operational. And we have an ambitious mission we truly believe in. We’re also fortunate to partner with incredible product teams giving our models the chance to reach billions of users and create immense positive impact. If you’re a brilliant, highly-ambitious and low ego individual, you’ll fit right in—come and join us as we work on our next generation of models!

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