<s>
Midjourney	B-Application
is	O
an	O
artificial	B-Application
intelligence	I-Application
program	I-Application
and	O
service	O
created	O
and	O
hosted	O
by	O
a	O
San	O
Francisco-based	O
independent	O
research	O
lab	O
Midjourney	B-Application
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
Midjourney	B-Application
generates	B-General_Concept
images	I-General_Concept
from	I-General_Concept
natural	I-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
descriptions	I-General_Concept
,	O
called	O
"	O
prompts	B-General_Concept
"	O
,	O
similar	O
to	O
OpenAI	O
's	O
DALL-E	B-General_Concept
and	O
Stable	B-General_Concept
Diffusion	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Midjourney	B-Application
team	O
is	O
led	O
by	O
David	O
Holz	O
,	O
who	O
co-founded	O
Leap	B-General_Concept
Motion	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
create	O
artwork	O
with	O
Midjourney	B-Application
using	O
Discord	B-Application
bot	O
commands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Midjourney	B-Application
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
was	O
founded	O
in	O
San	O
Francisco	O
,	O
California	O
by	O
David	O
Holz	O
,	O
co-founder	O
of	O
Leap	B-General_Concept
Motion	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Midjourney	B-Application
image	O
generation	O
platform	O
first	O
entered	O
open	O
beta	O
on	O
July	O
12	O
,	O
2022	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
on	O
March	O
14	O
,	O
2022	O
,	O
the	O
Discord	B-Application
server	O
launched	O
with	O
a	O
request	O
to	O
post	O
high-quality	O
photographs	O
to	O
Twitter/Reddit	O
for	O
system	O
's	O
training	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Midjourney	B-Application
is	O
currently	O
only	O
accessible	O
through	O
a	O
Discord	B-Application
bot	O
on	O
their	O
official	O
Discord	B-Application
server	O
,	O
by	O
direct	O
messaging	O
the	O
bot	O
,	O
or	O
by	O
inviting	O
the	O
bot	O
to	O
a	O
third	O
party	O
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
generate	O
images	O
,	O
users	O
use	O
the	O
command	O
and	O
type	O
in	O
a	O
prompt	B-General_Concept
;	O
the	O
bot	O
then	O
returns	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
four	O
images	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
may	O
then	O
choose	O
which	O
images	O
they	O
want	O
to	O
upscale	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Midjourney	B-Application
is	O
also	O
working	O
on	O
a	O
web	O
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Founder	O
David	O
Holz	O
says	O
he	O
sees	O
artists	O
as	O
customers	O
,	O
not	O
competitors	O
of	O
Midjourney	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Holz	O
told	O
The	O
Register	O
that	O
artists	O
use	O
Midjourney	B-Application
for	O
rapid	B-Device
prototyping	I-Device
of	O
artistic	O
concepts	O
to	O
show	O
to	O
clients	O
before	O
starting	O
work	O
themselves	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
artists	O
have	O
accused	O
Midjourney	B-Application
of	O
devaluing	O
original	O
creative	O
work	O
by	O
using	O
it	O
in	O
the	O
training	O
set	O
;	O
Midjourney	B-Application
's	O
terms	O
of	O
service	O
includes	O
a	O
DMCA	O
takedown	O
policy	O
,	O
allowing	O
artists	O
to	O
request	O
their	O
work	O
to	O
be	O
removed	O
from	O
the	O
set	O
if	O
they	O
believe	O
copyright	O
infringement	O
to	O
be	O
evident	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
advertising	O
industry	O
has	O
been	O
quick	O
to	O
embrace	O
AI	B-Application
tools	O
such	O
as	O
Midjourney	B-Application
,	O
DALL-E	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
Stable	B-General_Concept
Diffusion	I-General_Concept
,	O
among	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Italy	O
,	O
the	O
leading	O
newspaper	O
Corriere	O
della	O
Sera	O
published	O
a	O
comic	O
created	O
with	O
Midjourney	B-Application
by	O
writer	O
Vanni	O
Santoni	O
in	O
August	O
2022	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Charlie	O
Warzel	O
used	O
Midjourney	B-Application
to	O
generate	O
two	O
images	O
of	O
Alex	O
Jones	O
for	O
Warzel	O
's	O
newsletter	O
in	O
The	O
Atlantic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
use	O
of	O
an	O
AI-generated	O
cover	O
was	O
criticised	O
by	O
people	O
who	O
felt	O
it	O
was	O
taking	O
jobs	O
from	O
artists	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Last	O
Week	O
Tonight	O
with	O
John	O
Oliver	O
included	O
a	O
10-minute	O
segment	O
on	O
Midjourney	B-Application
in	O
an	O
episode	O
broadcast	O
in	O
August	O
2022	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Midjourney	B-Application
image	O
called	O
Théâtre	B-Application
d'Opéra	I-Application
Spatial	I-Application
won	O
first	O
place	O
in	O
the	O
digital	O
art	O
competition	O
at	O
the	O
2022	O
Colorado	O
State	O
Fair	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Jason	O
Allen	O
,	O
who	O
wrote	O
the	O
prompt	B-General_Concept
that	O
led	O
Midjourney	B-Application
to	O
generate	O
the	O
image	O
,	O
printed	O
the	O
image	O
onto	O
a	O
canvas	O
and	O
entered	O
it	O
into	O
the	O
competition	O
using	O
the	O
name	O
"	O
Jason	O
M	O
.	O
Allen	O
via	O
Midjourney	B-Application
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
two	O
category	O
judges	O
were	O
unaware	O
that	O
Midjourney	B-Application
used	O
AI	B-Application
to	O
generate	O
images	O
,	O
although	O
they	O
later	O
said	O
that	O
had	O
they	O
known	O
this	O
,	O
they	O
would	O
have	O
awarded	O
Allen	O
the	O
top	O
prize	O
anyway	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2022	O
,	O
Midjourney	B-Application
was	O
used	O
to	O
create	O
the	O
images	O
in	O
an	O
AI-generated	O
children	O
's	O
book	O
in	O
the	O
span	O
of	O
a	O
weekend	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
creator	O
,	O
Ammaar	O
Reeshi	O
,	O
spent	O
hours	O
tweaking	O
Midjourney	B-Application
prompts	B-General_Concept
,	O
rejecting	O
hundreds	O
of	O
generated	O
results	O
to	O
ultimately	O
choose	O
13	O
illustrations	O
for	O
the	O
book	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
2023	O
,	O
the	O
CEO	O
David	O
Holz	O
stated	O
that	O
Midjourney	B-Application
has	O
blocked	O
the	O
generation	O
of	O
images	O
of	O
Xi	O
Jinping	O
,	O
the	O
general	O
secretary	O
of	O
the	O
Chinese	O
Communist	O
Party	O
and	O
president	O
of	O
the	O
People	O
's	O
Republic	O
of	O
China	O
,	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
prevent	O
the	O
Chinese	O
government	O
from	O
potentially	O
censoring	O
Midjourney	B-Application
completely	O
over	O
satirical	O
images	O
of	O
Xi	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
January	O
2023	O
,	O
three	O
artistsSarah	O
Andersen	O
,	O
Kelly	O
McKernan	O
,	O
and	O
Karla	O
Ortizfiled	O
a	O
copyright	O
infringement	O
lawsuit	O
against	O
Stability	B-General_Concept
AI	I-General_Concept
,	O
Midjourney	B-Application
,	O
and	O
DeviantArt	O
,	O
claiming	O
that	O
these	O
companies	O
have	O
infringed	O
the	O
rights	O
of	O
millions	O
of	O
artists	O
,	O
by	O
training	O
AI	B-Application
tools	O
on	O
five	O
billion	O
images	O
scraped	O
from	O
the	O
web	O
,	O
without	O
the	O
consent	O
of	O
the	O
original	O
artists	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Midjourney	B-Application
has	O
three	O
subscription	O
tiers	O
,	O
and	O
previously	O
offered	O
a	O
free	O
trial	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
April	O
2023	O
,	O
Midjourney	B-Application
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
only	O
offers	O
a	O
paid	O
subscription	O
service	O
after	O
temporarily	O
closing	O
free	O
trial	O
access	O
because	O
of	O
high	O
demand	O
and	O
trial	O
abuse	O
.	O
</s>
