Latest news with #Holz
Tom's Guide
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Midjourney video generation is here — but there's a problem holding it back
Midjourney, one of the oldest and best-known AI image generators, is taking a new direction. Following in the footsteps of its competitors, Midjourney is now also offering AI video generation. Known as V1 Video, this new model allows users to upload an image or use an image generated by Midjourney's V7 image generator, creating a set of short videos from it. Announced in a post on X and a blog post, David Holz, Midjourney CEO, stated, 'Introducing our V1 Video Model. It's fun, easy, and beautiful. Available at $10/month, it's the first video model for *everyone* and it's available now.' Unlike some of the other competitors in the AI video world, Midjourney can't make a video from a prompt alone. While this will likely change in the future, it does put Midjourney a few steps behind the likes of Sora and Kling 2. Introducing our V1 Video Model. It's fun, easy, and beautiful. Available at 10$/month, it's the first video model for *everyone* and it's available now. 18, 2025 Launching the product, the Midjourney CEO went on to explain, 'Today's Video workflow will be called 'Image-to-Video'. This means that you still make images in Midjourney, as normal, but now you can press 'Animate' to make them move.' There is an automatic animation setting that will create a random motion prompt for you. For those wanting more control, there is also the option to manually choose an animation move for the video. When generating a video, you can choose if it is low or high motion (how much movement happens in the video). Once the video is created, you can extend it, adding four seconds at a time. You can do this up to four times. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. While you can add images from outside of Midjourney to animate, Holz added, 'We ask that you please use these technologies responsibly. Properly utilized, it's not just fun, it can also be really useful, or even profound - to make old and new worlds suddenly alive.' This lines up with Midjourney's recent legal battle with Disney, raising concerns over the use of external copyright in the training model. As mentioned above, you can currently use Midjourney V1 on the $10 per month plan. However, that could well change pretty soon. 'The actual costs to produce these models and the prices we charge for them are challenging to predict,' Holz added in the announcement post. 'We're going to do our best to give you access right now, and then over the next month, as we watch everyone use the technology (or possibly entirely run out of servers) we'll adjust everything to ensure that we're operating a sustainable business.' The problem is that the starting cost is already much higher than an image. Midjourney will be charging 8x more for a video creation than for an image. While that is still less than the average competitor, that amount is likely to change. While you can make videos on the cheapest plan, they will quickly eat up your credits. There will also be a slower but less expensive version of video generation available on the Pro model.
Sydney Morning Herald
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Hollywood studios sue AI company over ‘unauthorised' Darth Vader and Minions copies
New York: Disney and Universal are suing popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have taken legal action against a maker of generative AI technology that could upend the entertainment industry. The copyright lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute 'endless unauthorised copies' of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise and the Minions from Despicable Me. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,' the companies state in the complaint. The studios also say the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't respond to a request for comment but its CEO David Holz addressed the lawsuit in a weekly conference call with users on Wednesday after someone asked if it would endanger the tiny start-up's future. Loading 'I can't really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn't cool like that, but I think Midjourney is going to be around for a very long time,' Holz said. 'I think everybody wants us to be around.' In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Holz described his image-making service as 'kind of like a search engine' pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. 'Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?' Holz said. 'Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the non-professional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine.'
The Age
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Hollywood studios sue AI company over ‘unauthorised' Darth Vader and Minions copies
New York: Disney and Universal are suing popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have taken legal action against a maker of generative AI technology that could upend the entertainment industry. The copyright lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute 'endless unauthorised copies' of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise and the Minions from Despicable Me. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,' the companies state in the complaint. The studios also say the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't respond to a request for comment but its CEO David Holz addressed the lawsuit in a weekly conference call with users on Wednesday after someone asked if it would endanger the tiny start-up's future. Loading 'I can't really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn't cool like that, but I think Midjourney is going to be around for a very long time,' Holz said. 'I think everybody wants us to be around.' In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Holz described his image-making service as 'kind of like a search engine' pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. 'Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?' Holz said. 'Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the non-professional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine.'
Qatar Tribune
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Qatar Tribune
Disney, Universal sue AI image maker Midjourney for copyright infringement
Agencies Disney and Universal sued widely popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, alleging copyright infringement, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have taken legal action against a maker of generative AI technology that might upend the entertainment industry. The copyright lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute 'endless unauthorized copies' of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from the 'Star Wars' franchise and the Minions from 'Despicable Me.' 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,' the companies state in the studios also say the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't respond to a request for comment, but its CEO, David Holz, addressed the lawsuit in a weekly conference call with users Wednesday after someone asked if it would endanger the tiny startup's future. 'I can't really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn't cool like that, but I think Midjourney is going to be around for a very long time,' Holz said. 'I think everybody wants us to be around.' In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press (AP), Holz described his image-making service as 'kind of like a search engine' pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. 'Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?' Holz said. 'Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing, and if the images come out differently, then it seems like it's fine.' The lawsuit against Midjourney comes as several other AI companies have sought to make inroads into Hollywood and the video game industry, providing AI tools that can aid filmmakers and game developers in generating new video, synthetic voices and editing help. A movie industry group, the Motion Picture Association, said in a statement Wednesday that 'strong copyright protection is the backbone of our industry' and it supports a 'balanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centered innovation.' Endorsing the lawsuit Wednesday as a 'critical stand for human creativity and responsible innovation' was the Recording Industry Association of America, a music publishing group fighting its own legal battles against companies that make AI-generated music. Major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the 'fair use' doctrine of American copyright law. At the same time, many big tech companies are increasingly looking to make licensing deals to pay for the content their AI systems studios' case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms in San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against Stability AI, maker of an image-generating tool that competes with Midjourney.
Euronews
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement
Disney and Universal sued popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday. This is the first time major Hollywood companies have taken legal action against a maker of generative AI technology that could upend the entertainment industry. The copyright lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute 'endless unauthorized copies' of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise and the Minions from 'Despicable Me'. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also say the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't respond to a request for comment but its CEO David Holz addressed the lawsuit in a weekly conference call with users on Wednesday after someone asked if it would endanger the tiny startup's future. 'I can't really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn't cool like that, but I think Midjourney is going to be around for a very long time,' Holz said. "I think everybody wants us to be around.' In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Holz described his image-making service as 'kind of like a search engine' pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He presented the process as a form of creative inspiration, rather than plagiarism. 'Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?' Holz said. 'Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine.' The lawsuit against Midjourney comes as a number of other AI companies have sought to make inroads into Hollywood and the video game industry, providing AI tools that can aid filmmakers and game developers generate new videos, synthesise voices and edit footage. A movie industry group, the Motion Picture Association, said in a statement on Wednesday that 'strong copyright protection is the backbone of our industry' and it supports a 'balanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centred innovation'. The Recording Industry Association of America, a music publishing group fighting its own legal battles against firms that make AI-generated music, endorsed the lawsuit as a 'critical stand for human creativity and responsible innovation'. Major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the 'fair use' doctrine of American copyright law. At the same time, many big tech companies are increasingly looking to make licensing deals to pay for the content their AI systems need. The studios' case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms in San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against Stability AI, maker of an image-generating tool that competes with Midjourney.
