Midjourney has announced its first hardware project, and it can do more than make cute AI pet photos.
Midjourney is venturing into hardware with a full-body ultrasonic scanner, aiming to capture detailed 3D data for AI model training.
This move signifies a significant pivot for generative AI companies, traditionally focused on software. By controlling their own data acquisition, Midjourney can potentially bypass the limitations and biases inherent in scraped datasets, differentiating its future models from competitors like Stable Diffusion or DALL-E 3. The implications for more realistic and physically grounded AI generation are considerable.
The success of this initiative hinges on the scanner's accuracy, cost, and the ethical implications of mass personal data collection. Future developments will reveal if this hardware-first approach unlocks new capabilities or becomes a niche endeavor, and whether other major AI labs follow suit.