Meta isn’t only hiring AI researchers with eye-popping job offers, but it’s also collaborating with top AI companies to deliver results to its customers.
Meta has licensed Midjourney’s technology for its models and products. Midjourney, founded in 2021 by David Holz, has created some of the most capable image generation models in the entire AI space with a relatively small team. Midjourney’s AI images are thought to be the most artistic and creative, even when compared to images generated by bigger players like Google and OpenAI, and are extremely popular with users.
“Today we’re proud to announce a partnership with Midjourney to license their aesthetic technology for our future models and products, bringing beauty to billions,” said Meta’s AI Chief Alexandr Wang. “This technical collaboration between our research teams is part of our effort to team up with the best companies in the industry whose work and expertise complements our own,” he added.
“We are incredibly impressed by Midjourney. They have accomplished true feats of technical and aesthetic excellence, and we are thrilled to be working more closely with them. To ensure Meta is able to deliver the best possible products for people it will require taking an all-of-the-above approach. This means world-class talent, ambitious compute roadmap, and working with the best players across the industry. We look forward to showing you what we build together,” he added.
“Bringing sublime tools of creation and beauty to billions of people is squarely within our mission,” said Midjourney founder David Holz. “Excited to partner with the titans of industry to make this happen,” he added.
Midjourney could be a useful addition to Meta’s arsenal. Meta has already integrated text-based AI in its products including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, but adoption seems to have been lukewarm. These social media platforms, though, are primarily visual means of communication now, and adding Midjourney’s capabilities could help Meta craft interesting experiences for users. This can include ideas like custom profile pictures for users, much as how the Ghibli trend had helped OpenAI reach millions of new users, and new visual treatments for posts. Meta already has an image-generation option on Meta AI, but Midjourney could add a whole new level of sophistication and artistry to the images it creates.
And Meta is showing that it’s willing to try out all kinds of approaches to make a dent in the AI space. It’s not only poached dozens of researchers from top labs for its own Superintelligence effort, but is also willing to collaborate with companies which already have technologies that it doesn’t want to build from the ground up. These are quick moves, and Meta seems to be making up for a prolonged period of inactivity since the failure of Llama 4 to claw its way back to the top of the AI pecking order.