Meta is deepening its bet on generative AI. The company announced Friday that it has partnered with Midjourney, the independent startup known for its AI image and video generation technology.
Meta’s Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang revealed the deal in a Threads post, saying the collaboration will bring Midjourney’s tools into Meta’s research and future products. “To deliver the best possible products, Meta is taking an all-of-the-above approach,” Wang wrote, citing the need for top talent, ambitious compute capacity, and partnerships with industry leaders.
The move positions Meta to better compete with OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s Veo, and Black Forest Lab’s Flux. Meta already operates its own tools, including the Imagine image generator and Movie Gen for video, but Midjourney’s technology could give its platforms a creative edge.
Founded in 2022, Midjourney quickly gained traction for its distinctive image style and subscription business model, which ranges from $10 to $120 per month. By 2023, the company was reportedly generating $200 million in annual revenue, and in June it debuted its first AI video model, V1. Unlike many AI rivals, Midjourney has never taken outside investment.
The terms of the Meta partnership remain undisclosed, though Midjourney CEO David Holz emphasized on X that the startup remains independent. Reports suggest Meta once considered acquiring Midjourney outright.
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Meta has aggressively expanded its AI ambitions in recent months. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spent heavily to recruit top researchers, sometimes offering pay packages exceeding $100 million. The company also invested $14 billion in Scale AI and acquired voice tech startup Play AI.
The partnership comes amid legal challenges. In June, Disney and Universal sued Midjourney for allegedly training its models on copyrighted content. Meta itself faces similar lawsuits, but recent court rulings have largely favored tech companies.
