Jump to content

Midjourney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Midjourney
Developer(s)Midjourney, Inc.
Initial releaseJuly 12, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-07-12) (open beta)
Stable release
V6.1 / July 31, 2024; 4 months ago (2024-07-31)
Websitemidjourney.com
Part of a series on
Artificial intelligence
Major goals
Approaches
Applications
Philosophy
History
Glossary

Midjourney is a generative artificial intelligence program and service created and hosted by the San Francisco-based independent research lab Midjourney, Inc. Midjourney generates images from natural language descriptions, called prompts, similar to OpenAI's DALL-E and Stability AI's Stable Diffusion.[1][2] It is one of the technologies of the AI boom.

The tool is in open beta as of August 2024, which it entered on July 12, 2022.[3] The Midjourney team is led by David Holz, who co-founded Leap Motion.[4] Holz told The Register in August 2022 that the company was already profitable.[5] Users create artwork with Midjourney using Discord bot commands or the official website.[6][7]

History

[edit]

Midjourney, Inc. was founded in San Francisco, California, by David Holz,[8] previously a co-founder of Leap Motion.[9] The Midjourney image generation platform entered open beta on July 12, 2022.[3] On March 14, 2022, the Midjourney Discord server launched with a request to post high-quality photographs to Twitter and Reddit for systems training.[citation needed]

Model versions

[edit]

The company has been working on improving its algorithms, releasing new model versions every few months. Version 2 of their algorithm was launched in April 2022,[10] and version 3 on July 25.[11] On November 5, 2022, the alpha iteration of version 4 was released to users.[12][13] Starting from the 4th version, MJ models were trained on Google TPUs.[14]

On March 15, 2023, the alpha iteration of version 5 was released.[15] The 5.1 model is more opinionated than version 5, applying more of its own stylization to images, while the 5.1 RAW model adds improvements while working better with more literal prompts. The version 5.2 included a new "aesthetics system", and the ability to "zoom out" by generating surroundings to an existing image.[16] On December 21, 2023, the alpha iteration of version 6 was released. The model was trained from scratch over a nine month period. Support was added for better text rendition and a more literal interpretation of prompts.

Regular models
Version Release date
V1 February 2022[17]
V2 April 12, 2022[10]
V3 July 25, 2022[11]
V4 November 5, 2022 (alpha)[12]
V5 March 15, 2023 (alpha)[15]
V5.1 May 3, 2023[18]
V5.2 June 22, 2023[19]
V6 December 21, 2023 (alpha)[20]
V6.1 July 31, 2024[21]
Other models
Version Release date Notes
--beta August 22, 2022
test/testp August 28, 2022
Niji December 20, 2022 Model specifically tuned for anime[22]
Niji 5 April 2, 2023
Niji 6 January 29, 2024[22]

Functionality

[edit]

Midjourney is accessible through a Discord bot or by accessing their website. Users can use Midjourney through Discord either through their official Discord server, by directly messaging the bot, or by inviting the bot to a third-party server. To generate images, users use the /imagine command and type in a prompt;[23] the bot then returns a set of four images, which users are given the option to upscale. To generate images on the website, users must first have generated at least 1,000 images through the bot.

Vary (Region) + remix feature

[edit]

Midjourney released a Vary (Region) feature on September 5, 2023, as part of MidJourney V5.2. This feature allows users to select a specific area of an image and apply variations only to that region while keeping the rest of the image unchanged.[24]

Midjourney web interface

[edit]

Midjourney introduced its web interface to make its tools more accessible, moving beyond its initial reliance on Discord. This web-based platform was launched in August 2024 alongside the release of Midjourney version 6.1. The web editor consolidates tools such as image editing, panning, zooming, region variation, and inpainting into a single interface.

The introduction of the web interface also syncs conversations between Midjourney's Discord channels and web rooms, further enhancing collaboration across both platforms. This shift was in response to growing competition from other AI image generation platforms like Adobe Firefly and Google’s Imagen, which had already launched as native web apps with integration into popular design tools. [25]

Image Weight

[edit]

This feature lets users control how much influence an uploaded image has on the final output. By adjusting the "image weight" parameter, users can prioritize either the content of the prompt or the characteristics of the image. For instance, setting a higher weight will ensure that the generated result closely follows the image's structure and details, while a lower weight allows the text prompt to have more influence over the final output.[26]

Style Reference

[edit]

With Style Reference, users can upload an image to use as a stylistic guide for their creation. This tool enables MidJourney to extract the style—whether it is the color palette, texture, or overall atmosphere—from the reference image and apply it to a newly generated image. The feature allows users to fine-tune the aesthetics of their creations by integrating specific artistic styles or moods.[27]

Character Reference

[edit]

The Character Reference feature allows for a more targeted approach in defining characters. Users can upload an image of a character, and the system uses that image as a reference to generate similar characters in the output. This feature is particularly useful in maintaining consistency in appearance for characters across different images.[28]

Uses

[edit]

Midjourney's founder, David Holz, told The Register that artists use Midjourney for rapid prototyping of artistic concepts to show to clients before starting work themselves.[5]

The advertising industry has been quick to embrace AI tools such as Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion, among others. The tools that enable advertisers to create original content and brainstorm ideas quickly are providing new opportunities, such as "custom ads created for individuals, a new way to create special effects, or even making e-commerce advertising more efficient", according to Ad Age.[29][promotion?]

Architects have described using the software to generate mood boards for the early stages of projects, as an alternative to searching Google Images.[30]

Notable usage and controversy

[edit]
Théâtre D'opéra Spatial, a Midjourney image that won first prize in a digital art competition
Image from Alice and Sparkle, a children's book illustrated by Midjourney. Time describes this image as "showing the limits of the AI-powered technology. The illustration has several apparent flaws, including the character appearing to have claws."[31]

The program was used by the British magazine The Economist to create the front cover for an issue in June 2022.[32][33] In Italy, the leading newspaper Corriere della Sera published a comic created with Midjourney by writer Vanni Santoni in August 2022.[34] Charlie Warzel used Midjourney to generate two images of Alex Jones for Warzel's newsletter in The Atlantic. The use of an AI-generated cover was criticised by people who felt it was taking jobs from artists. Warzel called his action a mistake in an article about his decision to use generated images.[35] Last Week Tonight with John Oliver included a 10-minute segment on Midjourney in an episode broadcast in August 2022.[36][37]

A Midjourney image called Théâtre D'opéra Spatial won first place in the digital art competition at the 2022 Colorado State Fair. Jason Allen, who wrote the prompt that led Midjourney to generate the image, printed the image onto a canvas and entered it into the competition using the name Jason M. Allen via Midjourney. Other digital artists were upset by the news.[38] Allen was unapologetic, insisting that he followed the competition's rules. The two category judges were unaware that Midjourney used AI to generate images, although they later said that had they known this, they would have awarded Allen the top prize anyway.[39]

In December 2022, Midjourney was used to generate the images for an AI-generated children's book that was created over a weekend. Titled Alice and Sparkle, the book features a young girl who builds a robot that becomes self-aware. The creator, Ammaar Reeshi, used Midjourney to generate a large number of images, from which he chose 13 for the book.[40] Both the product and process drew criticism. One artist wrote that "the main problem... is that it was trained off of artists' work. It's our creations, our distinct styles that we created, that we did not consent to being used."[31]

A fake Midjourney-created image of Pope Francis wearing a puffer jacket, which went viral in 2023

In 2023, the realism of AI-based text-to-image generators, such as Midjourney, DALL-E, or Stable Diffusion,[41][42] reached such a high level that it led to a significant wave of viral AI-generated photos. Widespread attention was gained by a Midjourney-generated photo of Pope Francis wearing a white puffer coat,[43][44] the fictional arrest of Donald Trump,[45] and a hoax of an attack on the Pentagon,[46] as well as the usage in professional creative arts.[47][48]

Research has suggested that the images Midjourney generates can be biased. For example, even neutral prompts in one study returned unequal results on the aspects of gender, skin color, and location.[49] A study by researchers at the nonprofit group Center for Countering Digital Hate found the tool to be easy to use to generate racist and conspiratorial images.[50] In October 2023, Rest of World reported that Midjourney tends to generate images based on national stereotypes.[51]

An incorrect diagram of the anatomy of a rat, showing large testicles that are the size of its head and a large penis that towers over the rat itself.
An anatomically incorrect diagram of a rat's penis and testicles illustrated by Midjourney, published in a now-retracted Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology paper, which went viral in 2024[52]

In 2024, a Frontiers journal published a paper[53] which contained gibberish figures generated with Midjourney, one of which was a diagram of a rat with large testicles and a large penis towering over himself. The paper was retracted a day after the images went viral on Twitter.[52]

Content moderation and censorship in Midjourney

[edit]

Prior to May 2023, Midjourney implemented a moderation mechanism predicated on a banned word system. This method prohibited the use of language associated with explicit content, such as sexual or pornographic themes, as well as extreme violence. Moreover, the system also banned certain individual words, including those of religious and political figures, such as Allah or Xi Jinping. This practice occasionally stirred controversy due to perceived instances of censorship within the Midjourney platform.[54][55]

Commencing in May 2023, with subsequent updates post version 5, Midjourney transitioned to an AI-powered content moderation system. This advanced mechanism allowed for a more nuanced interpretation of user prompts by analyzing them in their entirety. It consequently facilitated the context-dependent use of words that had previously been prohibited. For instance, users can now prompt the AI to generate a portrait of Xi Jinping. At the same time, the system will prevent the generation of contentious images, such as depictions of global leaders, including Xi Jinping, in situations of arrest.[56]

Litigation

[edit]

On January 13, 2023, three artists—Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz—filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt, claiming that these companies have infringed on the rights of millions of artists by training AI tools on five billion images scraped from the web, without the consent of the original artists.[57]

The legal action was initiated in San Francisco by attorney Matthew Butterick in partnership with the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, the same team challenging Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI (developers of ChatGPT and DALL-E) in court. In July 2023, U.S. District Judge William Orrick inclined to dismiss most of the lawsuit filed by Andersen, McKernan, and Ortiz but allowed them to file a new complaint.[58] Another lawsuit was filed in November 2023 against Midjourney, Stability AI, DeviantArt and Runway AI for using the copyrighted work of over 4,700 artists.[59]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Huge "foundation models" are turbo-charging AI progress". The Economist. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  2. ^ Hertzmann, Aaron (June 10, 2022). "Give this AI a few words of description and it produces a stunning image – but is it art?". The Conversation. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  3. ^ a b @midjourney (July 12, 2022). "We're officially moving to open-beta! Join now at https://discord.gg/midjourney. **Please read our directions carefully** or check out our detailed how-to guides here: https://midjourney.gitbook.io/docs. Most importantly, have fun!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 31, 2022 – via Twitter.
  4. ^ Rose, Janus (July 18, 2022). "Inside Midjourney, The Generative Art AI That Rivals DALL-E". Vice. Archived from the original on September 1, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Claburn, Thomas (August 1, 2022). "Holz, founder of AI art service Midjourney, on future images". The Register. Archived from the original on November 12, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  6. ^ Hachman, Mark (July 26, 2022). "Midjourney's enthralling AI art generator goes live for everyone". PCWorld. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Collins, Barry (February 9, 2024). "Midjourney website now lets you generate images without Discord". TechFinitive. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  8. ^ Salkowitz, Rob (September 16, 2022). "Midjourney Founder David Holz On The Impact Of AI On Art, Imagination And The Creative Economy". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 28, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  9. ^ Vincent, James (August 2, 2022). ""An engine for the imagination": an interview with David Holz, CEO of AI image generator Midjourney". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 20, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  10. ^ a b @midjourney (April 18, 2022). "We recently started testing a V2 algorithm, it's much better with characters and animals" (Tweet). Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ a b @midjourney (July 25, 2022). "Today we're starting to test our V3 image generation algorithms" (Tweet). Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ a b "David Holz on the official Midjourney Discord server". Discord. November 5, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  13. ^ "Midjourney v4 greatly improves the award-winning image creation AI". TechSpot. November 10, 2022. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  14. ^ "Midjourney Selects Google Cloud to Power AI-Generated Creative Platform". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved October 27, 2024.
  15. ^ a b "Midjourney V5 Creates Better Images, Fewer Nightmare Hands". HowToGeek. March 16, 2023. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  16. ^ Bastian, Matthias (June 23, 2023). "Midjourney 5.2 brings zoom out and integrated prompt analysis". the decoder. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  17. ^ "Midjourney Model Versions". docs.midjourney.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
  18. ^ Collins, Barry (May 3, 2023). "Midjourney 5.1 Arrives - And It's Another Leap Forward For AI Art". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  19. ^ Edwards, Benj (June 23, 2023). ""Stunning"—Midjourney update wows AI artists with camera-like feature". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on September 21, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  20. ^ Franzen, Carl (December 21, 2023). "Midjourney V6 is here with in-image text and completely overhauled prompting". VentureBeat.
  21. ^ Midjourney (July 31, 2024). "Version 6.1 Release Notes". Midjourney Updates.
  22. ^ a b @Midjourney (January 29, 2024). "V6 of Niji-Journey is now live! Niji V6 is a version of our latest model specifically tuned for Anime. ..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  23. ^ Becker, Isaac Stanley; Harwell, Drew (March 30, 2023). "How a tiny company with few rules is making fake images go mainstream". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 27, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  24. ^ "Vary Region + Remix".
  25. ^ "Midjourney Launches New Web Editor, Improving Workflow for Creators". August 16, 2024.
  26. ^ "Image Weight".
  27. ^ "Style Reference".
  28. ^ "Midjourney CREF Deep Dive | Consistent Character Ultimate Guide | Midjourney v6 Tips".
  29. ^ Bonilla, Brian (September 22, 2022). "How ad agencies are using AI image generators—and how they could be used in the future". Ad Age. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  30. ^ Faure, Gaelle (January 31, 2023). "The Architects Designing Surreal Worlds with AI". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  31. ^ a b Popli, Nik (December 14, 2022). "He Used AI to Publish a Children's Book in a Weekend. Artists Are Not Happy About It". Time. Archived from the original on September 12, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  32. ^ "How a computer designed this week's cover". The Economist. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  33. ^ Liu, Gloria (June 21, 2022). "DALL-E 2 Made Its First Magazine Cover". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  34. ^ Bozzi, Ida (August 26, 2022). "Su "La Lettura", Highsmith inedita e le città che mutano". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on April 30, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  35. ^ "I Went Viral in the Bad Way". Galaxy Brain. August 17, 2022. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  36. ^ Gentile, Dan (August 16, 2022). "John Oliver is weirdly popular on this SF-based AI image app". SFGate. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  37. ^ Brathwaite, Lester Fabian (August 29, 2022). "John Oliver marries a cabbage in ceremony officiated by Steve Buscemi on 'Last Week Tonight'". EW.com. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  38. ^ Gault, Matthew (August 31, 2022). "An AI-Generated Artwork Won First Place at a State Fair Fine Arts Competition, and Artists Are Pissed". Motherboard. Vice. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  39. ^ Roose, Kevin (September 2, 2022). "An A.I.-Generated Picture Won an Art Prize. Artists Aren't Happy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
  40. ^ Stokel-Walker, Chris (December 13, 2022). "A Tech Worker Is Selling A Children's Book He Made Using AI. Professional Illustrators Are Pissed". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  41. ^ Verma, Pranshu and Schaul, Kevin (May 24, 2023). "See why AI like ChatGPT has gotten so good, so fast". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  42. ^ "Will AI-generated images create a new crisis for fact-checkers? Experts are not so sure". Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. April 11, 2023. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  43. ^ Novak, Matt. "That Viral Image Of Pope Francis Wearing A White Puffer Coat Is Totally Fake". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  44. ^ Stokel-Walker, Chris (March 27, 2023). "We Spoke To The Guy Who Created The Viral AI Image Of The Pope That Fooled The World". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  45. ^ Sharma, Shweta (March 24, 2023). "Trump shares deepfake photo of himself praying as AI images of arrest spread online". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  46. ^ Oremus, Will; Harwell, Drew; and Armus, Teo (May 22, 2023). "A tweet about a Pentagon explosion was fake. It still went viral". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  47. ^ Kolirin, Lianne (April 18, 2023). "Artist rejects photo prize after AI-generated image wins award". CNN. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  48. ^ "How Generative AI Can Augment Human Creativity". Harvard Business Review. June 16, 2023. ISSN 0017-8012. Archived from the original on June 20, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  49. ^ Thomas, Ryan J. & Thomson, T. J. (July 7, 2023). "What Does a Journalist Look like? Visualizing Journalistic Roles through AI". Digital Journalism: 1–23. doi:10.1080/21670811.2023.2229883. ISSN 2167-0811.
  50. ^ Alba, Davey (August 11, 2023). "Midjourney Is Easily Tricked Into Making AI Misinformation, Study Finds". Bloomberg. ISSN 1063-2123. Archived from the original on November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  51. ^ Turk, Victoria (October 10, 2023). "How AI reduces the world to stereotypes". Rest of World.
  52. ^ a b Schultz, Isaac (February 15, 2024). "'Rat Dck' Among Gibberish AI Images Published in Science Journal". Gizmodo. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  53. ^ Guo, Xinyu; Dong, Liang; Hao, Dingjun (February 13, 2024). "Cellular functions of spermatogonial stem cells in relation to JAK/STAT signaling pathway" (PDF). Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 11. doi:10.3389/fcell.2023.1339390. ISSN 2296-634X. (Retracted, see doi:10.3389/fcell.2024.1386861,  Retraction Watch)
  54. ^ McLaughlin, Sarah (March 31, 2023). "Midjourney CEO Says 'Political Satire In China Is Pretty Not Okay,' But Apparently Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping Is Pretty Okay". Techdirt. Archived from the original on August 26, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  55. ^ McFadden, Christopher (April 3, 2023). "Midjourney will no longer let you generate images of Xi Jinping". interestingengineering.com. Archived from the original on June 1, 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
  56. ^ Bastian, Matthias (May 3, 2023). "Midjourney now has an easy mode and a new AI moderation system". THE DECODER. Archived from the original on May 21, 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
  57. ^ Vincent, James (January 16, 2023). "AI art tools Stable Diffusion and Midjourney targeted with copyright lawsuit". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023.
  58. ^ Brittain, Blake (July 19, 2023). "US judge finds flaws in artists' lawsuit against AI companies". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 6, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  59. ^ Richardson, Aran (February 29, 2024). "The 4,700-Artist AI Controversy: Artists Accuse Midjourney And Other AI Firms Of Unauthorized Use In Lawsuit". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved March 3, 2024 – via Benzinga.com.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Midjourney.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Midjourney&oldid=1260925130"