Meta is partnering with Midjourney to license the startup’s AI picture and video technology expertise, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang introduced Friday in a put up on Threads. Wang says Meta’s analysis groups will collaborate with Midjourney to convey its expertise into future AI fashions and merchandise.
“To make sure Meta is ready to ship the very best merchandise for folks it’ll require taking an all-of-the-above strategy,” Wang mentioned. “This implies world-class expertise, bold compute roadmap, and dealing with the very best gamers throughout the {industry}.”
The Midjourney partnership might assist Meta develop merchandise that compete with industry-leading AI picture and video fashions, akin to OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Final yr, Meta rolled out its personal AI picture technology software, Think about, into a number of of its merchandise, together with Fb, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta additionally has an AI video technology software, Film Gen, that enables customers to create movies from prompts.
The licensing settlement with Midjourney marks Meta’s newest deal to get forward within the AI race. Earlier this yr, CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on a hiring spree for AI expertise, providing some researchers compensation packages price upwards of $100 million. The social media big additionally invested $14 billion in Scale AI, and purchased the AI voice startup Play AI.
Meta has held talks with a number of different main AI labs about different acquisitions, and Zuckerberg even spoke with Elon Musk about becoming a member of his $97 billion takeover bid of OpenAI (Meta finally didn’t be part of the provide, and OpenAI denied Musk’s bid).
Whereas the phrases of Meta’s take care of Midjourney stay unknown, the startup’s CEO, David Holz, mentioned in a put up on X that his firm stays unbiased with no traders; Midjourney is without doubt one of the few main AI mannequin builders that has by no means taken on outdoors funding. At one level, Meta talked with Midjourney about buying the startup, based on Upstarts Media.
Midjourney was based in 2022 and rapidly turned a pacesetter within the AI picture technology area for its reasonable, distinctive type. By 2023, the startup was reportedly on tempo to generate $200 million in income. The startup sells subscriptions beginning at $10 per thirty days. It gives pricier tiers, which provide extra AI picture generations, that value as a lot as $120 per thirty days. In June, the startup launched its first AI video mannequin, V1.
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Meta’s partnership with Midjourney comes simply two months after the startup was sued by Disney and Common, alleging that it skilled AI picture fashions on copyrighted works. A number of AI mannequin builders — together with Meta — face comparable allegations from copyright holders, nevertheless, current court docket circumstances pertaining to AI coaching information have sided with tech firms.
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