Google just sent a deprecation notice for image generation: the Imagen 4 endpoints are being shut off on August 17, 2026. After that, calls to them return a 404. The recommended migration path for all three is the same — Gemini 3.1 Flash Image.
- •imagen-4.0-generate-001 -> gemini-3.1-flash-image
- •imagen-4.0-ultra-generate-001 -> gemini-3.1-flash-image
- •imagen-4.0-fast-generate-001 -> gemini-3.1-flash-image
If you call Imagen directly, that's a code change you have to make before the deadline. If your image generation runs through Antbase, there's nothing to do.
Antbase routes image generation, not just text
Antbase has a virtual model for this — ant:image-gen — that routes across every image-capable model in the catalog. It's already pointed at the newer Gemini image models (gemini-3.1-flash-image, gemini-2.5-flash-image, gemini-3-pro-image) — the exact migration target Google is recommending — alongside OpenAI's gpt-5-image. The legacy Imagen 4 endpoints were never in the routing path, so the August shutoff changes nothing for you.
# Was: a pinned Google endpoint that's now on a kill date
# model = "imagen-4.0-generate-001"
# Now: one stable handle that routes to the best live image model —
# already the Gemini 3.x family, with OpenAI's as an alternative.
model = "ant:image-gen"
# or pin a specific one: "google/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview"Image models churn exactly like text models
Imagen 4 to Gemini 3.1 is the same story we just saw with OpenAI retiring GPT-5 snapshots: vendors version, deprecate, and retire models on their own clock, and whoever pinned the old ID is the one stuck migrating. The fix is the same too — don't pin a single model. Route through a stable handle and let the deprecations be someone else's problem.
Compare the image models Antbase routes to, side by side, in the playground:
One note: this is about Antbase's own routing. If you have other apps calling Imagen 4 directly on your Google project, those still need updating before August 17 — but anything you move behind ant:image-gen is migration-proof going forward.
