Meta is partnering with Midjourney to “license their aesthetic technology” for use in its own models and products, Meta’s new chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, announced on Friday. The partnership involves a “technical collaboration between our research teams,” Wang said, suggesting the deal involves more than simply using Midjourney’s existing product across Meta services.
Wang didn’t specify the terms of arrangement. Meta spokesperson Ashley Gabriel declined to comment and pointed to Wang’s posts. Midjourney didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Meta has been investing heavily in its AI “superintelligence” efforts as of late to catch up to rivals like OpenAI and Google. Mark Zuckerberg has personally worked to poach AI researchers from other companies with humongous offers — Wang only joined Meta after it paid $14.3 billion to acquire 49 percent of Scale AI, the company he co-founded.
The partnership with Midjourney ties directly into Meta’s goals for AI imagery across its services. The Meta AI app is built around a feed of AI-generated images and videos. Facebook has added a button to create AI images when you go to make a new post. There are options to generate AI images within chats in WhatsApp and Instagram, too.
Midjourney got on the map for its AI image and video generation tools. As Meta works to build out features like the Meta AI app’s social feed, it’s easy to imagine Meta relying on Midjourney’s tech to help people make better-looking photos and videos.
“We are incredibly impressed by Midjourney,” Wang says. “They have accomplished true feats of technical and aesthetic excellence, and we are thrilled to be working more closely with them.” The two companies will share more about what they’re working on together “soon.”
Even with the partnership, Midjourney remains “an independent, community-backed research lab” with “no investors,” founder and CEO David Holz says.
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