Midjourney is a software development company that uses artificial intelligence to power the editing software it creates. The software allows users to create images and videos of people, objects, and environments that have a photorealistic quality. These images and videos can then be used in a variety of contexts, including advertising and product demonstrations.
The image maker programme that Midjourney offers used to come with free demos so that potential customers could try it out and see if it met their needs before making a purchase. Regrettably, it would appear that the company has recently made the decision to discontinue doing so and will no longer be offering free trials of their product.
Because of an increase in the use of disposable accounts for the sole purpose of producing images without paying for them, the company has decided to end its free trial period. This decision was made due to an increase in the number of people who used disposable accounts.
David Holz, founder and CEO of Midjourney, made the announcement on Tuesday on Discord, citing “extraordinary demand and trial abuse” as the reason for the company’s decision to make the change (this announcement was spotted first by The Washington Post). In an email sent to The Verge, Holz provided an explanation for the delay and cited “massive amounts of people making throwaway accounts to get free images” as the cause of the problem.
A statement made by Holz in an email suggests that “we think the culprit was probably a viral how-to video in china.” This occurred at the same time that there was a shortage of graphics processing units. Together, they were causing issues for customers who were paying for goods or services.
The Chief Executive Officer of Midjourney, David Holz, stated that the decision was made because of “extraordinary demand and trial abuse” on Discord. The AI photo editor is said to have attracted over 13 million users in the past year thanks to the adaptability of its various subscription plans, as stated in an article published by The Washington Post.
Twitter users have been mistaking images created with Midjourney for actual news stories, which has led to the images’ rapid spread across the social media platform. A journalist created a series of images depicting the arrest of Donald Trump by law enforcement officials after he served as the former President of the United States. In addition, a number of people went around with a photo that they claimed showed Pope Francis donning a stylish white jacket.
The text-to-image generator that ChatGPT-supplementary maker uses is called DALL-E. OpenAI provides its users with free image generation, but the credit system, which is reset at the beginning of each month, serves to put a limit on how much can be used. Users have the option to pay to unlock additional capabilities for image creation.
The quality of the images in Midjourney 5 that depict people has been significantly improved. For example, inaccurately shaped hands, which used to be a common issue with AI-generated images, can now be corrected with greater ease. By adjusting the lighting and the fabric, the system is able to produce more realistic looking images of a wide variety of famous people.
It’s possible that these updates are the reason why a few photos from Midjourney have gone viral over the past few weeks. They not only depict fabricated images of Trump’s arrest and a stylish Pope, but they also show French President Emmanuel Macron strolling through the ongoing protests in Paris, and they show Elon Musk holding hands with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. These images are completely fictitious.
According to a message sent out by Holz in October of last year, Midjourney maintains a list of words that are restricted because they are “related to topics in different countries based on complaints from users in those countries.” However, by not disclosing the entire list, it sidesteps the potential for “drama.” A statement that Holz made the previous year claims that “almost no one ever notices [the ban list], unless they’re specially trying to create drama,” which is a violation of the terms of service for the website.
However, as its hoaxes have gained popularity, the company has expanded the list of words and phrases that are not permitted on its websites. It appears that this was done in response to a popular Twitter thread by investigative journalist Eliot Higgins, who used the Midjourney app to post arrest photos of Donald Trump. Higgins asserts that as a direct consequence of this, he is unable to travel to Midjourney any longer.
On the other hand, getting around such restraints requires very little effort. The phrase “Donald Trump being arrested” did not produce any results in tests carried out by The Verge; however, the phrase “Donald Trump in handcuffs surrounded by police” did produce the same outcomes. (As seen in the featured image that can be found at the very top of this article.)
At this time, free users of Midjourney are unable to generate images of their own using the platform. In the future, this might be different. “We’re still trying to figure out how to bring free trials back,” said Holz. “We’re still trying to bring free trials back.” “We attempted to require a working email address, but that was not sufficient, so we are going back to the drawing board.”
In conclusion, despite the fact that Midjourney’s decision to stop providing free trials may have an impact on the way users evaluate and choose image and video creation tools, the company is still a popular choice in the field of artificial intelligence-powered content creation.
