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 absolute best merchandise for individuals it is going to require taking an all-of-the-above strategy,” Wang mentioned. “This implies world-class expertise, formidable compute roadmap, and dealing with one of the best gamers throughout the {industry}.”

The Midjourney partnership might assist Meta develop merchandise that compete with industry-leading AI picture and video fashions, resembling OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Final yr, 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 yr, CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on a hiring spree for AI talent, providing some researchers compensation packages price 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 in the end 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, mentioned in a post on X that his firm stays unbiased with no buyers; 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 accordance with Upstarts Media.

Midjourney was based in 2022 and rapidly turned a pacesetter within the AI picture technology house for its life like, distinctive type. By 2023, the startup was reportedly on tempo to generate $200 million in income. The startup sells subscriptions beginning at $10 monthly. It presents pricier tiers, which provide extra AI picture generations, that price as a lot as $120 monthly. 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 comparable allegations from copyright holders, nonetheless, latest courtroom circumstances pertaining to AI coaching knowledge have sided with tech companies.

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