Image Lab Defaults To Seedream — Gemini For 4K And Batches

August 19, 2026

A normal Image Lab call now renders on ByteDance Seedream 5.0 Pro — the same model you had to pin on August 17. Ask for 4K or several images in one call and the default route switches to Gemini on its own. If Seedream refuses the prompt, the same call retries once on Grok Imagine. You can still pin a provider when you want a specific path.

What you can do

• Get Seedream without asking for it. provider: "auto" (the default) renders on Seedream: lifelike commercial scenes, identity-preserving edits, up to 14 reference images, one 1K / 2K output per call.
• Let 4K and multi-image requests route themselves. Seedream returns one image and does not do true 4K. A call with 4K or n greater than 1 switches to Gemini automatically. Pin gemini yourself when you want that path for a single 1K/2K image too.
• Batch up to 10 distinct prompts in one background job. Pass prompts (not ten separate Image Lab calls) when you want different subjects or scenes. Shared settings apply to every prompt; the batch detaches so the chat stays free. See background jobs.
• Pin when the default is the wrong tool. seedream keeps Seedream even at 4K (clamped to 2K). xai is Grok Imagine Image Quality — posters, ads, packaging, menus, clean type, named locations. gemini for grounded Google Search image/text output as well as 4K / n > 1.
• See which provider actually rendered. A refusal on the auto route retries once on xAI; the result says so. A refusal on a pinned provider is final — no silent hop.

Where this shows up

You used to type "use Seedream" on every commercial still. Leave the provider alone; that is already the default.

You need eight campaign variants plus one 4K hero. The variants go through Gemini (n or prompts); the hero at 4K does too. A single 2K pack shot stays on Seedream.

Gemini (or Seedream) declines a named-entity poster. On the auto route the same prompt retries on Grok Imagine instead of dying on the first refusal. Higgsfield Soul is no longer the automatic fallback.

Try it

• "Create a 16:9 2K luxury hotel campaign image: warm dusk light, natural materials, lifelike guests, no text."
• "Edit out/product.jpg. Preserve the bottle, label, and camera angle. Change only the background to a midnight-blue set."
• "Make these six distinct poster concepts in one Image Lab batch — different seasons, same brand palette."
• "4K 16:9 key visual of the same scene, then I'll pick one for the billboard."
• "Use Grok Imagine. Square 2K menu board with clean multilingual text, warm café lighting, no third-party logos."

Heads up

• Seedream is one image per call at 1K/2K. Several variations or native 4K go to Gemini — automatically on auto, or because you pinned it.
• Higgsfield Soul is no longer the automatic retry. The auto-route safety net is Grok Imagine. You can still force Higgsfield with fallback_provider: "higgsfield" if you have a reason.
• xAI rendering named entities is not legal clearance. For third-party franchises or characters, use descriptive homage language unless you own the rights.
• Billing stays per Image Lab call, same as before. Provider choice changes which model runs, not the tool band.