Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models

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 submit 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 individuals it’ll require taking an all-of-the-above method,” Wang stated. “This implies world-class expertise, formidable compute roadmap, and dealing with the very best gamers throughout the {industry}.”

The Midjourney partnership may assist Meta develop merchandise that compete with industry-leading AI picture and video fashions, corresponding to OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Final 12 months, Meta rolled out its own AI image generation tool, Think about, into a number of of its merchandise, together with Fb, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta additionally has an AI video technology device, Film Gen, that allows users to create videos from prompts.

The licensing settlement with Midjourney marks Meta’s newest deal to get forward within the AI race. Earlier this 12 months, CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on a hiring spree for AI talent, providing some researchers compensation packages value upwards of $100 million. The social media large additionally invested $14 billion in Scale AI, and acquired 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 joining 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 cope with Midjourney stay unknown, the startup’s CEO, David Holz, stated in a post on X that his firm stays unbiased with no traders; Midjourney is among the few main AI mannequin builders that has by no means taken on exterior funding. At one level, Meta talked with Midjourney about acquiring the startup, in line with Upstarts Media.

Midjourney was co-founded in 2022 and rapidly grew to become a pacesetter within the AI picture technology area for its reasonable, distinctive model. By 2023, the startup was reportedly on tempo to generate $200 million in income. The startup sells subscriptions beginning at $10 per 30 days. It gives pricier tiers, which provide extra AI picture generations, that price as a lot as $120 per 30 days. In June, the startup released its first AI video model, V1.

Meta’s partnership with Midjourney comes simply two months after the startup was sued by Disney and Universal, alleging that it educated AI picture fashions on copyrighted works. A number of AI mannequin builders — together with Meta — face related allegations from copyright holders, nevertheless, current court docket circumstances pertaining to AI coaching knowledge have sided with tech companies.

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