Why Midjourney was created? And The Man Behind it
TLDRThis video delves into the creation and long-term vision behind Midjourney, an innovative AI image generator founded by David Holtz. The video explains why there’s little marketing or media coverage and explores the unique social and imaginative environment created through Discord, where users collaborate in real-time. It highlights how Midjourney leverages GPUs globally and the challenges of scaling AI tools like Midjourney due to computational limitations. The founder's vision involves not just making a tool, but creating new pillars of human infrastructure through reflection, imagination, and coordination.
Takeaways
- 💡 Midjourney was created by David Holtz to explore new mediums of thought and expand the imaginative powers of humans.
- 🌍 Midjourney is the largest Discord server with over 9 million users, surpassing previous servers like Genshin Impact.
- 🚀 Midjourney operates on a massive scale, using over 10,000 GPUs to support its image generation processes.
- 💻 David Holtz, the founder of Midjourney, has a strong reputation in Silicon Valley, which allowed him to secure resources like cloud GPUs without venture funding.
- 🧠 The vision behind Midjourney goes beyond image generation; it aims to create new human infrastructure and foster creativity through reflection, imagination, and coordination.
- 🔗 Discord's social layer plays a crucial role in Midjourney's success by encouraging collective creativity in a community-driven environment.
- 🛠️ Initially, Midjourney did not train its own models but used open-source tools like OpenAI's CLIP. The fourth version of Midjourney took 9 months to develop.
- 👩🔬 Katherine Crowson, an independent researcher, contributed significantly to the foundation of diffusion models, which Midjourney builds upon.
- 🌍 Midjourney's image generation process is distributed across different regions globally, optimizing GPU usage based on time zones.
- 🔮 The future of Midjourney is uncertain, but it will likely face computational limitations due to the need for significantly more GPUs. Custom chip innovations could potentially address these challenges in the coming years.
Q & A
Who is the founder of Midjourney?
-David Holtz is the founder of Midjourney.
What is unique about Midjourney's user base?
-Midjourney is the largest Discord server with 9 million users, surpassing the previously leading Genshin Impact server which had around 1 million users.
How does Midjourney utilize GPUs?
-Midjourney is one of the largest GPU users in the world, utilizing more than 10,000 GPUs.
What advantage does David Holtz have that helped Midjourney gain access to GPUs quickly?
-David Holtz is a well-respected second-time founder in Silicon Valley, which gave him the advantage of being a known entity. When he needed resources, he could directly reach out to cloud vendors and they would provide him with the necessary GPUs.
What was David Holtz's previous notable project?
-David Holtz was the mastermind behind Leap Motion, a company that developed mid-air gesture control in 3D before Windows supported touchscreens.
What is Midjourney's long-term vision according to its founder?
-Midjourney aims to build new human infrastructure and explore new mediums of thought, with a focus on expanding the imaginative powers of the human species.
What are the themes or pillars that Midjourney focuses on?
-The themes or pillars that Midjourney focuses on are reflection, imagination, and coordination.
Why is Midjourney on Discord?
-Midjourney is on Discord because the team is fully remote and it provides a unique social layer to collective creativity and community interaction.
How does the community aspect on Discord enhance Midjourney's functionality?
-The community aspect on Discord enhances Midjourney's functionality by creating an imaginative environment that encourages users to be more creative and explore new ideas collectively.
What is the significance of Midjourney not training their first or second models?
-Midjourney did not train their first or second models; instead, they utilized open-source resources and started customizing them, which allowed them to quickly understand and enter the generative AI art space.
What is the role of Katherine Crowson in the development of Midjourney?
-Katherine Crowson, an independent researcher, played a significant role in the foundation for diffusion models, which Midjourney later built upon for their version four model.
Why is there limited media coverage on Midjourney?
-There is limited media coverage on Midjourney because they are focusing on computational development and scaling their infrastructure, rather than marketing.
What are the challenges Midjourney预见 facing as they scale their user base?
-As Midjourney scales, they预见 facing challenges related to computational limitations and the physical expenditure of energy required to increase GPU usage and data center capacity.
Outlines
🌌 Midjourney's Genesis and Vision
The script begins with a series of questions about Midjourney's creation, its founder's vision, and the quality of its images. It highlights the company's low-key marketing approach and the lack of interviews with its CEO. Midjourney is revealed to be the largest Discord server with 9 million users and a significant GPU user, with over 10,000 GPUs. The founder, David Holtz, is a respected figure in Silicon Valley with a history of successful ventures. His reputation helped Midjourney gain access to substantial GPU resources quickly. The script also discusses the company's goals, which extend beyond creating an image generation tool. Midjourney aims to explore new mediums of thought and enhance human imagination, with a focus on reflection, imagination, and coordination.
🛠️ Behind the Scenes of Midjourney's Development
This section delves into Midjourney's development process, revealing that the company did not train its first two models but instead utilized open-source components. It mentions the use of OpenAI's CLIP for language processing and the significant role of Katherine Crowson, an independent researcher whose work laid the foundation for diffusion models. The script also discusses Midjourney's operational strategy, which includes using GPUs across different regions to balance usage during nighttime hours. The company's approach to scaling is examined, with the founder, David, predicting potential computational limitations and the need for new forms of custom chips to meet future demands. The script concludes with a note on the company's quiet marketing stance due to the current computational limitations of the market.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡MidJourney
💡David Holtz
💡GPU Usage
💡Discord
💡Leap Motion
💡Generative AI
💡Katherine Crowson
💡Imagination
💡Cloud Computing
💡Future of MidJourney
Highlights
Midjourney is the largest Discord server with 9 million users, surpassing the Genshin Impact server.
Midjourney uses over 10,000 GPUs globally, making it one of the largest GPU users in the world.
David Holtz, the founder of Midjourney, is a well-known second-time founder in Silicon Valley, previously involved in Leap Motion.
Holtz was able to secure cloud resources quickly due to his established reputation in the tech field, eliminating the need for venture funding.
Midjourney's early testing took place on Discord, which allowed the team to perform agile user testing in real-time.
Midjourney’s approach to user interaction fosters a collaborative, imaginative environment that enhances creativity among users.
The company initially used open-source resources such as OpenAI’s CLIP before training its own models.
Midjourney's version 4 model took nine months to develop, and it's the first model they fully trained themselves.
Independent researcher Katherine Crowson played a crucial role in foundational work for diffusion models, which Midjourney uses.
Midjourney distributes GPU workloads globally, using data centers in Korea, the Netherlands, and other locations to balance computational demand.
Midjourney’s lack of media coverage and interviews is intentional, as the team focuses more on scaling and development rather than marketing.
David Holtz believes that scaling computational resources will be a major challenge in the coming years, potentially limited by hardware and energy constraints.
Holtz predicts two possible futures: a slow scale-up limited by current computing resources or rapid advancements due to breakthroughs in custom chip design.
One innovative idea involves neural networks being burned directly into chips, potentially reducing the need for memory and drastically improving performance.
Midjourney’s long-term vision is to build a new infrastructure for creativity and imagination, enhancing how humans interact with technology.