Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models

1/ Key takeaways

Meta has signed a deal with generative AI lab Midjourney to license its “aesthetic technology” for future products, a move signaling Meta’s push to differentiate its products on visual quality. The partnership will link the companies’ research teams and could help Meta accelerate creative features for users and marketers.

2/ Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models

Meta is partnering with Midjourney to license the startup’s AI image and video generation technology, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang announced Friday in a post on Threads. Wang says Meta’s research teams will collaborate with Midjourney to bring its technology into future AI models and products.

“To ensure Meta is able to deliver the best possible products for people it will require taking an all-of-the-above approach,” Wang said. “This means world-class talent, ambitious compute roadmap, and working with the best players across the industry.”

The Midjourney partnership could help Meta develop products that compete with industry-leading AI image and video models, such as OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Last year, Meta rolled out its own AI image generation tool, Imagine, into several of its products, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta also has an AI video generation tool, Movie Gen, that allows users to create videos from prompts.

The licensing agreement with Midjourney marks Meta’s latest deal to get ahead in the AI race. Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on a hiring spree for AI talent, offering some researchers compensation packages worth upwards of $100 million. The social media giant also invested $14 billion in Scale AI, and acquired the AI voice startup Play AI.

Meta has held talks with several other leading AI labs about other acquisitions, and Zuckerberg even spoke with Elon Musk about joining his $97 billion takeover bid of OpenAI (Meta ultimately did not join the offer, and OpenAI denied Musk’s bid).

While the terms of Meta’s deal with Midjourney remain unknown, the startup’s CEO, David Holz, said in a post on X that his company remains independent with no investors; Midjourney is one of the few leading AI model developers that has never taken on outside funding. At one point, Meta talked with Midjourney about acquiring the startup, according to Upstarts Media.

Midjourney was founded in 2022 and quickly became a leader in the AI image generation space for its realistic, unique style. By 2023, the startup was reportedly on pace to generate $200 million in revenue. The startup sells subscriptions starting at $10 per month. It offers pricier tiers, which offer more AI image generations, that cost as much as $120 per month. In June, the startup released its first AI video model, V1.

Meta’s partnership with Midjourney comes just two months after the startup was sued by Disney and Universal, alleging that it trained AI image models on copyrighted works. Several AI model developers — including Meta — face similar allegations from copyright holders, however, recent court cases pertaining to AI training data have sided with tech companies.

3/ Hola Tech’s pov:

For creators and marketers, this partnership signals a need to stay informed about new AI-powered tools on Meta’s platforms. The integration of Midjourney’s technology could provide powerful new capabilities for generating creative assets efficiently, so learning how to leverage these tools will be essential for enhancing your workflow and content. At the same time, the general public should be aware that the visual content they see on platforms like Instagram and Facebook may become increasingly sophisticated and AI-generated, making it important to develop a critical eye for what you consume and interact with online.

From a broader perspective, this deal highlights a significant trend in the tech industry. For tech enthusiasts and developers, this model of major companies acquiring or licensing specific AI capabilities from specialized startups may be the future for accelerating innovation and staying competitive. It shows that even giants like Meta are looking to collaborate with niche leaders to quickly integrate cutting-edge technology rather than developing everything in-house.

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