🚀 Midjourney Office Hours Highlights: October 9th

Welcome to this week's recap of Midjourney Office Hours. Midjourney is preparing for a transformative journey, with updates ranging from short-term enhancements to long-term visionary projects. Dive into the detailed summary of what was discussed. If you're looking for a quick overview, skip down to the TL;DR; section.

Extended Recap

Short-Term Goals 🌟

In the immediate future, Midjourney is set to introduce a new editor that will allow users to import and edit their own external images. This feature will include depth-sensing capabilities for filter-like effects and inpainting. Initially, this will be available exclusively to Pro or Mega subscribers who pay annually, with potential expansion to Standard yearly subscriptions. This feature will be accessible via the web and will operate separately from the general 'Create' workflow.

Additionally, a suite of personalization features is on the horizon, aimed at simplifying the creation of personalized content. These features will enable users to initiate new personalizations quickly and easily, with the option to create multiple variations from scratch. A new 'style personalization' feature is also in the works. Before the release of Version 7, users can expect a significant workflow overhaul, including UI changes and the introduction of 'Batch8'—eight-image grids that explore a broader range of personalization possibilities tailored to individual tastes.

Mid-Term Goals 🛠️

Version 7 is in the pipeline, with ongoing training and testing expected to take a few more weeks. This update promises enhanced multi-lingual capabilities, improved prompt understanding, better image coherence, and a robust base model for future feature additions.

On the video front, training is progressing well, with a focus on developing a fast, affordable model that is clean, fun, and accessible. Specialized video models may also be introduced later. Meanwhile, the first major 3D dataset has been collected, with training set to begin soon. The release order of 3D and video features is still under consideration.

Midjourney is also analyzing demographic and psychometric survey results, which will inform future blog posts and the development of a 'demographic explorer' tool. This tool will allow users to explore demographic-linked style preferences in image creation.

Improvements to the Explore pages and Web UI are also planned, with enhanced personalization and organization features like subfolders or tags. The team is actively seeking new members with both front-end and design skills to support these initiatives.

Long-Term Vision 🌌

Looking further ahead, Midjourney is working on hardware developments and is in need of additional hardware experts. The development of apps for web and mobile platforms is also underway.

Perhaps most intriguingly, the company is working on several secret projects, set to be announced within the next six months. These projects aim to empower people through the integration of humans and AI, with one project focused solely on making the world a better place. While most projects are related to Midjourney's core visual and image-related offerings, two are not. One project may even stir controversy until its purpose is fully understood. There's also a mysterious mention of people wanting to "go inside The Orb."

TL;DR:

Short-Term Goals: Midjourney will soon introduce a web-only editor for importing and editing external images with depth-sensing, initially for Pro/Mega subscribers, alongside new personalization features and a workflow overhaul with UI changes and 'Batch8' grids (you get 8 images instead of 4 for each prompt).

Mid-Term Goals: Version 7 is nearing completion with improved multi-lingual capabilities and image coherence, video and 3D training are underway, demographic survey results will inform a new 'demographic explorer' tool, and enhancements to the Explore pages and Web UI are planned, with a call for new team members with front-end and design skills.

Long-Term Vision: Looking ahead, Midjourney is developing hardware and apps for web and mobile, seeking hardware experts, and working on secret projects to integrate humans and AI, with one aiming to improve the world and another potentially controversial, alongside a cryptic reference to "going inside The Orb".

Stay tuned for more updates as Midjourney continues to innovate and enhance its platform!

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