Midjourney, a text-to-image tool, is making waves in the creative industry. You might have a lot of questions regarding this AI Image generator, right? Let’s discuss the most important questions.
What is Midjourney?
Midjourney is a generative AI tool that transforms natural language prompts into images. Although it’s one of many recently developed machine learning-based image generators, it has quickly risen to prominence, standing alongside major names in AI like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion.
Midjourney allows you to generate high-quality images from basic text prompts without the need for specialized hardware or software, as it operates entirely through the website and Discord app.
How does this AI tool work?
Midjourney operates using closed-source, proprietary code, so the details of its inner workings remain a mystery to those outside the company. However, we do know that it relies on two key machine learning technologies: large language models and diffusion models.
If you’ve used AI chatbots like ChatGPT, you’re already familiar with large language models, which help Midjourney interpret the meaning of the words in your prompt. This interpretation is then transformed into a vector—a numerical representation of your prompt. The vector guides the complex diffusion process that ultimately generates the image.
Is Midjourney free to use?
Midjourney is not entirely free to use. While it offers a brief trial period on its website as well as on the Discord app where users can generate a limited number of images for free, continued access requires a paid subscription.
Unlike some other AI tools that offer more extensive free usage, Midjourney’s affordable subscription plans are necessary for ongoing image generation after the trial.
Advantages and Disadvantages of this AI Image Generator
To begin, AI Midjourney lets you generate digital images quickly from a text prompt. However, if you intend to use the images for more than just fun, there’s a cost involved—though this isn’t necessarily a downside.
Another important issue is ownership. The images you create with Midjourney aren’t fully yours. While you can use them, including for commercial purposes (with some restrictions), other users can also access and remix them.
Midjourney showcases its most impressive creations, along with its text prompts, on its website, offering a striking gallery. However, this raises questions about usage and ownership rights when it comes to your CGI work.
Any image created with Midjourney can legally be used by others and with slight modifications, even for limited commercial purposes. You have no full control over preventing this, which is arguably the biggest drawback of the open community model.
Will this end the artist and other jobs?
If AI can now generate stunning, print-ready artwork in under 60 seconds with just a few clicks, is this the end of art as well as art-related jobs as we know it? Some might argue yes, as professional graphic designers who spend weeks perfecting covers, layouts, and more may struggle to compete with such speed and efficiency.
At least when it comes to delivering acceptable results quickly and affordably, AI seems to have the edge. However, achieving truly excellent outcomes with tools like Midjourney is a different challenge.
In that area, human creativity will still be important. People will fine-tune instructions, choose the right style, and explore ideas deeply to create unique, meaningful work—a process that only humans can truly do as of now.
Another important point is that AI-generated work can be reproduced exactly with minimal effort, simply by using the same text prompt. As the technology behind tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion advances, these tools—and the results they produce—are improving significantly. This suggests that in the near future, it will become increasingly possible to generate high-quality images with minimal effort, rather than just usable ones.
We believe this doesn’t signal the end of creativity. AI can only be as “creative” as the programming and code that drive it. Creativity will persist, though it may evolve. Crafting the perfect text prompts for AI tools like Midjourney requires significant skill and creativity. In this process, you are the true creator, while Midjourney simply translates your vision into pixels.