What simply occurred? Midjourney is cooking up one thing new, and this time it may not have something to do with merely producing uncannily reasonable photographs. The corporate introduced by way of X/Twitter that it is formally dipping its toes into the {hardware} realm.
In a publish on Wednesday, Midjourney revealed it is hiring employees for a brand new {hardware} staff that will probably be primarily based in San Francisco.
“We’re formally moving into {hardware}. Should you’re fascinated about becoming a member of the brand new staff in San Francisco please e-mail us,” the publish said.
We aren’t saying something particular but, however we’ve a number of efforts in flight.
– Midjourney (@midjourney) August 28, 2024
Particulars about what Midjourney is engaged on are scarce, however the firm teased that there are “a number of efforts in flight” when requested for more information below the identical publish. The corporate additionally said that there are “positively alternatives for extra type elements.” No timeline was supplied.
Maybe a greater thought will be derived from Midjourney’s latest rent of Ahmad Abbas. Abbas beforehand labored at Neuralink and had a hand in engineering Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional headset. With that form of experience, maybe Midjourney’s first {hardware} rodeo entails leaping on the immersive computing bandwagon.
This concept would not be misplaced for Midjourney’s founder David Holz. Earlier than beginning the wildly widespread text-to-image generator, Holz co-founded Leap Movement, which constructed motion-tracking peripherals.
Midjourney has additionally stated it is engaged on AI fashions for video and 3D era. An accompanying {hardware} play might theoretically tie into these initiatives.
One other attainable clue may very well be a publish from Holz on X from months in the past through which he responded “we are going to make the orb” to somebody’s light-hearted suggestion about making a spherical gadget impressed by fantasy wizard orbs – though this one may very well be merely a joke.
we are going to make the orb
– David (@DavidSHolz) January 10, 2024
What is evident is that Midjourney is making this foray because it faces intensifying competitors in AI picture era from the likes of xAI’s Grok 2 and Ideogram 2. A tangible product might assist the corporate stand out from these software-only corporations.
Nevertheless, Midjourney must work up one thing distinctive. To this point, startups have been obsessive about the concept of wearable/pocketable generative AI merchandise – and none of them have seen success. Actually, AI initiatives have an unusually excessive likelihood of by no means catching on. In response to a latest report, a shocking 80% of all AI initiatives find yourself failing regardless of the billions of {dollars} being poured into them.