Hustler Words – Meta’s aggressive pursuit of AI dominance continues with its latest strategic move: a licensing agreement with Midjourney, the AI image and video generation startup. This partnership, announced by Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang on Threads, marks a significant step in Meta’s efforts to build cutting-edge AI models and products. Wang emphasized Meta’s commitment to a comprehensive approach, encompassing top talent, ambitious computational resources, and collaborations with industry leaders like Midjourney.
This collaboration aims to bolster Meta’s capabilities in the competitive AI image and video generation market, currently dominated by players such as OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Meta already boasts its own image generation tool, Imagine, integrated into Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, along with the video generation tool, Movie Gen. However, the Midjourney partnership represents a significant injection of external expertise and technology.
The deal is the latest in a series of bold moves by Meta to secure its position in the AI race. Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg spearheaded a major hiring initiative, offering lucrative compensation packages exceeding $100 million to top AI researchers. The company also invested $14 billion in Scale AI and acquired the AI voice startup, Play AI. Furthermore, Meta engaged in discussions regarding potential acquisitions with other leading AI labs, even exploring a collaboration with Elon Musk on a bid for OpenAI (a bid that ultimately proved unsuccessful).
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While the financial specifics of the Midjourney deal remain undisclosed, Midjourney CEO David Holz confirmed on X that his company retains its independence and has not sought external funding. This makes Midjourney a unique player among leading AI model developers. Reports from Upstarts Media suggest that Meta initially considered acquiring Midjourney outright.
Founded in 2022, Midjourney rapidly established itself as a leader in AI image generation, renowned for its realistic and distinctive style. The company’s revenue is reportedly on track to reach $200 million in 2023, fueled by its subscription model ranging from $10 to $120 per month. The launch of its first AI video model, V1, in June further solidified its position in the market.
The partnership comes on the heels of lawsuits filed against Midjourney by Disney and Universal, alleging copyright infringement in the training of its AI models. This is a common challenge faced by many AI model developers, including Meta itself. However, recent legal precedents have generally favored tech companies in similar cases.
The implications of this partnership are far-reaching, signaling a potential shift in the AI landscape and intensifying the competition among tech giants vying for supremacy in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence. The full impact of Meta’s collaboration with Midjourney remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the race for AI innovation is far from over.
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