Artificial Intelligence
Midjourney’s First Generative AI Art Mobile App is (Almost) All Anime, All the Time
Popular generative AI art creator Midjourney has expanded its synthetic images beyond Discord to an Android and iOS mobile app, albeit with some caveats. Midjourney built the Niji Journey app with Japanese game developer Sizigi Studio to focus the app on the immediately recognizable anime style of art and the thriving Japanese market for associated products.
NIJI JOURNEY AI
Midjourney founder David Holz confirmed the release of the app in an ‘office hours’ chat for the synthetic media generator. His vision for the app is to localize the experience and content of using Midjourney. That’s why the app centers on anime, also known as ‘Niji style,’ as well as why it’s a mobile app to entice those who may not use a laptop or desktop computer for their personal hobbies. This way, there isn’t a need for them to access the Midjourney Discord and its more than 16 million community members.
The creative industries are fighting back against UK government proposals to let artificial intelligence companies use copyright-protected work without permission.
The latest protest is a silent album co-written by more than 1,000 musicians, including Kate Bush, and follows a statement signed by 48,000 creatives including Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus in which they warned of a “major, unjust threat” to artists’ livelihoods.
Artificial Intelligence
Kate Bush, New Order, & Damon Albarn Among 1,000 UK Artists Protesting Government’s AI Stance With A Silent Album
Last week, the UK government proposed a new policy that would allow tech companies to use copyrighted works to train their artificial intelligence algorithms. Under the proposal, artists and companies could opt out of having their material used for AI, but it would otherwise give the companies unfettered access to people’s creative work without having to license anything. The proposal has incited widespread anger in the UK’s arts communities, and now a team of 1,000 British musicians has released a silent protest album called Is This What We Want?
Writers, publishers, musicians, photographers, movie producers and newspapers have rejected the Labour government’s plan to create a copyright exemption to help artificial intelligence companies train their algorithms.
In a joint statement, bodies representing thousands of creatives dismissed the proposal made by ministers on Tuesday that would allow companies such as Open AI, Google and Meta to train their AI systems on published works unless their owners actively opt out.
