Meta Partners with Midjourney to Enhance AI Image and Video Generation Capabilities
Meta has entered into a partnership with Midjourney to secure licensing rights for the startup’s advanced AI-powered image and video generation technology. In an announcement on Threads, Meta’s Chief AI Officer, Alexandr Wang, revealed that collaborative efforts between Meta’s research teams and Midjourney will be aimed at integrating this technology into future AI models and products.
Wang emphasized the need for a comprehensive strategy to deliver top-tier offerings, stating, “Achieving our mission requires a multi-faceted approach: world-class talent, strategic compute initiatives, and collaborations with industry trailblazers.”
The Midjourney partnership could enable Meta to create products that compete effectively in the competitive AI image and video model market. This market includes prominent players such as OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Last year, Meta unveiled its own AI-driven image generation tool, Imagine, across multiple platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Additionally, the company introduced Movie Gen, a tool that enables users to create videos from prompts.
The licensing agreement with Midjourney represents one of several strategic moves by Meta to strengthen its AI capabilities. Earlier this year, the company embarked on an aggressive hiring spree for AI talent and offered attractive compensation packages to some researchers worth over $100 million. Meta also made significant investments in Scale AI and acquired AI voice startup Play AI.
Meta reportedly engaged in acquisition discussions with several leading AI labs, including talks with Elon Musk regarding his bid to acquire OpenAI (however, Meta did not join the offer, and OpenAI subsequently rejected Musk’s proposal).
Although the terms of the deal between Meta and Midjourney have yet to be disclosed, Midjourney’s CEO, David Holz, confirmed in a post on X that his company remains independent, with no investors. The startup, which was founded in 2022, quickly emerged as a leader in the AI image generation sector due to its lifelike and unique style. By 2023, Midjourney was projected to generate $200 million in revenue.
Meta’s partnership with Midjourney comes just two months after the startup faced a lawsuit from Disney and Universal, who alleged that Midjourney trained AI image models using copyrighted works. Other AI model developers, including Meta, have also been confronted with similar copyright infringement accusations by content owners. However, recent legal cases involving AI training data have generally supported tech companies’ positions.
