Midjourney launches 5-second video tool amid Disney lawsuit

Midjourney, a leading AI image generation company, has launched its first video creation tool, allowing users to transform still images into 5-second video clips with the press of an “Animate” button. The release comes just one week after Disney and NBCUniversal filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the company, alleging it has profited from their intellectual property by generating images of characters from Marvel, Star Wars, The Simpsons, and other major franchises.

What you should know: Midjourney’s new video model charges approximately eight times more than image generation but claims to be “over 25 times cheaper” than existing market alternatives.

• Each video job produces four 5-second clips, and users can extend videos roughly 4 seconds at a time up to four total extensions.
• The company estimates its pricing works out to 3-5 cents per image for comparison.

How it works: The current system uses an “Image-to-Video” workflow that builds on Midjourney’s existing image generation capabilities.

• Users create images in Midjourney and can then press an “Animate” button to convert them into video clips.
• The tool offers both “automatic” animation settings and “manual” settings where users can “describe to the system how you want things to move and the scene to develop.”
• Users can also animate images “uploaded from outside of Midjourney” by dragging them to the prompt bar and marking them as a “start frame.”

Legal challenges mounting: Disney and NBCUniversal’s lawsuit describes Midjourney as “the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism.”

• The studios cite numerous examples of Midjourney generating allegedly infringing images of Marvel superheroes, Minions from “Despicable Me,” and characters from major franchises including Star Wars, “The Simpsons,” “Toy Story,” and “Shrek.”
• “Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,” the lawsuit states.
• Midjourney has not issued a public statement about the lawsuit or responded to requests for comment.

Long-term vision: Company founder and CEO David Holz outlined ambitious plans for real-time AI video generation.

• The ultimate goal is “an AI system that generates imagery in real-time” where users “can command it to move around in 3D space, the environments and characters also move, and you can interact with everything.”
• Holz acknowledged the current model is “a stepping stone” while the company determines “what to actually concretely give to you.”

What they’re saying: Midjourney emphasized responsible use in its announcement.

• “We ask that you please use these technologies responsibly. Properly utilized it’s not just fun, it can also be really useful, or even profound — to make old and new worlds suddenly alive,” Holz wrote in the blog post.
• “Our goal is to give you something fun, easy, beautiful, and affordable so that everyone can explore. We think we’ve struck a solid balance.”