Midjourney launches its AI Video Model 🤖!

There’s a new video generator on the market, and, unsurprisingly, it’s from one of the industry’s image gen leaders 😉. 

Hello, and welcome to another issue of the Neural Frontier!

This week has seen a slew of software releases from Midjourney and TikTok, as well as some interesting poaching allegations from Sam Altman. 

Let’s unpack 📦! 

In a rush? Here's your quick byte: 

🤖 Midjourney launches its AI video model!

📹 TikTok launches new AI video tools.

💰 Meta allegedly attempted to poach OpenAI’s employees with $100M offers!

🎭 AI Reimagines: Midjourney video gen goes brrr!

🎯 Everything else you missed this week.  

⚡ The Neural Frontier’s weekly spotlight: 3 AI tools making the rounds this week.

🤖 Midjourney launches its AI video model!

Midjourney, known for its powerful AI image generation capabilities, has officially launched Version 1 of its AI video generation model. The new tool enables users to turn static images, created on the platform or uploaded externally, into animated videos.

Here's what the initial version offers:

✨ Animate Your Images Instantly: Users can now animate images generated by Midjourney by simply pressing an "Animate" button, producing a five-second clip. Uploaded external images can also serve as starting frames for animations, using text prompts to describe the desired motion.

🎛️ Customizable Animation Controls: By default, animations use an automatic setting, giving basic motion to images. Additionally, a manual mode allows users detailed control by specifying exactly how they want the motion to look. Two motion options:

• Low motion: Subtle animations suited for calmer scenes.

• High motion: Vibrant animations with active camera and subject movement.

🔄 Extend Your Clips: Users can extend their videos by four seconds, up to four times, for a maximum length of 21 seconds.

💲 Pricing and Availability

• Currently accessible through Midjourney's web platform and Discord server.
  

• Requires a subscription, starting at $10 per month for about 200 image generations.
  

• Video jobs cost approximately 8 times more than image jobs, roughly equating to the cost of one image per second of video.

⚖️ Legal Considerations: The release comes amid an ongoing lawsuit by Disney and Universal, who argue Midjourney’s generative AI models risk copyright infringement. Midjourney asserts it aims for responsible use of this technology, emphasizing its potential for creativity and storytelling.

Midjourney sees this initial video model as a stepping stone toward more ambitious goals, ultimately aiming for AI-driven real-time open-world simulations. Future developments will include:

• Real-time image generation and interaction.
  

• Advanced 3D and spatial navigation capabilities.
  

• Integration into a unified, interactive platform accessible to all users.

Founder David Holz says this release marks an important step toward an immersive and interactive digital future, promising more exciting advancements in the months to come.

📹 TikTok launches new AI video tools.

At this year's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, TikTok introduced Symphony, a powerful suite of generative AI tools designed to help brands, creators, and marketers rapidly produce engaging, TikTok-first content.

Here's what was announced:

TikTok Symphony simplifies creativity at scale, combining human imagination and AI innovation. Its core offerings include:

🎞️ Image to Video

• Transform static images—like product photos or brand assets—into eye-catching, five-second videos.
  

• Generate engaging ad creatives quickly and effectively, perfect for showcasing product catalogs or refreshing existing content.

🖋️ Text to Video

• Instantly convert text prompts into captivating videos without pre-existing visuals.
  

• Ideal for rapidly testing campaign concepts, exploring creative iterations, or scaling customized content.

👗 Showcase Products

• Bring products to life using Symphony Digital Avatars:
  

  • Holding products: Avatars display any featured item.
    

  • Clothing: Avatars model apparel products.
    

  • App demos: Avatars showcase mobile apps through phone simulations.
    

• Enhances brand storytelling by visually demonstrating products in a relatable way.

All Symphony-generated content is clearly labeled as AI-generated and passes multiple safety reviews to ensure community trust.

🤝 Strategic Integrations: TikTok has expanded its AI creative tools to industry-standard platforms:

• Adobe Express: Symphony’s Image to Video tool will be directly accessible within Adobe Express, streamlining TikTok-first content creation for brands, creators, and small businesses alike.
  

• WPP Open: WPP's global teams now have full access to Symphony’s capabilities—including AI dubbing, video generation/remixing, and digital avatars—enhancing their ability to develop impactful, AI-driven content strategies rapidly.

🎯 Empowering the Creative Ecosystem: Andy Yang, TikTok’s Global Head of Creative & Brand Products, emphasized Symphony’s role in accelerating creativity:

“We’re entering a new era of creativity, one where ideas move at the speed of culture. AI doesn’t replace imagination—it accelerates it.”.

📅 Availability: Image to Video, Text to Video, and Showcase Products will roll out globally to all advertisers within the TikTok Symphony Creative Studio in the coming weeks.

💰 Meta allegedly attempted to poach OpenAI’s employees with $100M offers!

 Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been aggressively recruiting top AI talent with staggering compensation packages—but, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the efforts have so far fallen flat.

Here’s what went down:

💸 Meta’s Mega Offers: Meta recently attempted to poach elite AI researchers from OpenAI and Google DeepMind. Offers reportedly reached over $100 million, including massive signing bonuses and yearly compensation.

The talent hunt centers around Meta’s new superintelligence team, led by Alexandr Wang, former CEO of Scale AI.

🔥 Sam Altman’s Response: On a podcast hosted by his brother Jack Altman, OpenAI’s Sam Altman addressed these recruiting efforts candidly:

• Zero takers so far: Altman confirmed that despite Meta’s astronomical offers, OpenAI hasn’t lost its top researchers:

 “I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take him up on that.”

• Culture beats cash: Altman believes OpenAI’s people stayed because they see a better chance of achieving AGI at OpenAI. He also criticized Meta’s compensation-first approach, suggesting it doesn’t create an innovative culture.
  

• Meta’s innovation gap: Altman further remarked that Meta’s recent AI initiatives have fallen short, adding:

 “I don’t think they’re a company that’s great at innovation.”

🧠 Meta’s Challenges: Despite landing key talent like Google DeepMind’s Jack Rae and Sesame AI’s Johan Schalkwyk, Meta has struggled to pull in star researchers like:

• OpenAI’s lead researcher, Noam Brown
  

• Google’s AI architect, Koray Kavukcuoglu

Meta’s hefty investment in Scale AI and its aggressive hiring spree highlight its urgency, but building a successful AI superintelligence lab isn’t proving to be easy.

The AI talent war between OpenAI and Meta seems set to intensify, with OpenAI soon expected to release a model that may widen its competitive lead. Meta’s aggressive recruitment attempts might continue, but Altman’s confidence indicates that culture and mission, not just cash, may be what truly draws top AI talent.

🎭 AI Reimagines: Midjourney video gen goes brrr!

New Midjourney feature? Count us in! 

We’ve seen lots of videos testing out Midjourney’s latest video gen capabilities, and we’re pretty impressed, to say the least. So impressed that we decided you gotta check some out for yourself. 

As always, feel free to dive in 🏄‍♂️!

🎯 Everything else you missed this week. 

🤖 Google expands its family of Gemini 2.5 models. 

📹 YouTube is bringing Veo 3 to Shorts later this year.

📱 Adobe unveils an app for its generative AI tools.

💰 OpenAI secures a $200 million US defense contract.

🗣️ AI Mode can now have back-and-forth voice conversations.

🙅 OpenAI drops Scale AI as data provider, following Meta’s investment.

⚡ The Neural Frontier’s weekly spotlight: 3 AI tools making the rounds this week. 

1. 🕵️ Wittro: Wittro is an undetectable desktop AI assistant that discreetly handles interviews and meetings for you. 

2. 🎙️ ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs is a comprehensive AI audio platform that delivers realistic voice generation and conversational AI technology. 

3. 📊 Fluig AI: Fluig AI is an intelligent diagramming platform that instantly converts any document, image, or webpage into professional diagrams with one click. 

The competition is heating up… 

And Midjourney just pressed play. TikTok’s doubling down, and Meta’s out here waving hundred-million-dollar checks in the air💸.

Who’s dropping the next plot twist? Maybe OpenAI. Maybe Google. Maybe someone we've never heard of... yet.

One thing’s certain: we’ll be watching, reporting, and breaking it all down so you don’t miss a frame.

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Catch you next time! 👋