AI image creator Midjourney is adding major new editing options to its platform, as announced by CEO David Holz on Discord. You will be able to edit an uploaded image using generative AI, as you could only edit images that AI has created until now. Notably, this will be a web-based tool, expanding Midjourney's unique and Discord-focused features.
While AI image editing tools have been around for a while, they are almost always restricted to images created with the same AI model that performs the editing. Midjourney is making the leap to allowing you to edit an image you want to edit instead of having the model do the initial creation.
This is technically impressive, as it means the model must understand more about an image it didn't design from scratch. However, it can also be risky as other models may have refrained from offering it as an option due to concerns that people will use it to alter photos of real people without their permission or to employ AI for less than benevolent purposes.
Once the image is uploaded, you can edit it in several ways. You can zoom in or out, adjust the angle, and play with the image without Discord and with a single command. You can also use a digital brush to paint, allowing for more precise modifications. The most notable new element is the Retexture feature, which allows you to precisely alter colors and other details while keeping shapes and objects in the image intact.
Midjourney edits the future
Questions about the ethics of creating and editing AI images have led to heated debates, lawsuits, and other discussions. That makes Midjourney's decisions important to how its rivals and regulators determine what rules to set internally and for the industry. Midjourney has agreed to incorporate metadata into AI-generated images so they can always be identified, although so far this is not the more comprehensive C2PA standard. These are issues that Midjourney is very aware of.
“Because these new features are so powerful, we will restrict their rollout to a subset of the current community and increase our human moderation on the results (there are also new, more advanced AI moderators that we think will do a great job),” he wrote. Holz. “Honestly, we're not sure how to precisely restrict the implementation of this feature, so we want to publish a survey and get your opinions. We will use these results to calculate what percentage of the user base we will reach with different restrictions and try to balance the accessibility with volume”.
For the average user, the ability to easily manipulate images with AI could make using Midjourney more attractive and make photo editing much easier. And as AI image creators become more common, Midjourney wants to be more accessible. That is why the company decided to abandon Discord as its only outlet, although it remains an important hub for the company's creations. Midjourney probably doesn't want to be left out simply because some don't want to sign up for Discord.