Wat-Not Staff
Midjourney, renowned for its popular AI image generator, has announced its entry into the hardware market. The company is forming a new team in San Francisco dedicated to hardware development. This move marks a significant expansion for Midjourney, which has primarily been known for its AI-driven image generation tools.
In a post on X dated August 28, 2024, Midjourney confirmed its shift towards hardware but refrained from providing specific details about the new products. The company has hinted at multiple ongoing projects but remains tight-lipped about the nature of these developments.
Leadership and Expertise in Hardware
Midjourney is an AI tool that creates images from text descriptions. Using advanced AI and deep learning, it’s similar to DALL-E and Stable Diffusion.
Midjourney, Inc., founded by David Holz in San Francisco, started its image generation platform in open beta on July 12, 2022. The company’s Discord server also began on March 14, 2022, asking users to share high-quality photos on Twitter and Reddit to help train the system.
Midjourney’s foray into hardware is bolstered by its recent hires and leadership experience.
In February 2024, the company brought on Ahmad Abbas, a former Neuralink engineer who also contributed to Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
Additionally, Midjourney CEO David Holz has a background in hardware development from his previous venture, Leap Motion, known for motion-tracking technology.
These appointments suggest that Midjourney’s hardware initiatives will be informed by significant industry expertise.
Market Context and Competitors
Midjourney’s expansion into hardware comes amid a growing trend of AI companies exploring physical products.
OpenAI, for example, is also venturing into hardware, with recent investments in AI-enabled devices and potential AI chips.
This movement reflects a broader strategy within the tech industry to integrate AI capabilities into various types of hardware, potentially reshaping the market landscape.
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