Stability AI, a cutting-edge AI Startup known for its text-to-image model Stable Diffusion, has launched a new project called StableStudio. It is an open-source version of its proprietary AI-powered design software, DreamStudio. With this novel and intriguing move, the startup aims to foster collaborative development and accelerate the pace of innovation in the generative AI and art domain, rather than relying on individual companies and their secretive efforts. This move is also seen as a strategic move after securing funding from tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Stability AI, a leading AI Startup famous for its text-to-image model Stable Diffusion, has shared its views on the future prospects of generative AI in a recent article.
They think that a more open, cooperative, and community-based development would help the growth of generative AI. They stated their vision of collaborating with the wider community to create a user-friendly interface, giving users full access to the creative power of generative AI.
DreamStudio started as an animation studio for the open-source generative AI art model Disco Diffusion, but later shifted its focus to image generation with the launch of Stable Diffusion. This new change in focus has put DreamStudio in direct and fierce competition with other rival generative image platforms like Midjourny and NightCafe.
While StableStudio and DreamStudio have many common features, there are also some key differences. Stable Studio does not have DreamStudio branding or Stability-specific account features such as billing and API management. Moreover, the backend API calls have been replaced by a plug-in system.
Although StableStudio shares a vision of cooperative development, some critics see this release of StableStudio as an attempt by Stability AI to delegate the development of DreamStudio to the open-source community. While this perspective is not completely unfounded and irrational, it is also true that Stability AI is facing a lot of pressure to monetize its diverse efforts, covering art, animation, biomedicine, and generative audio.
Emad Mostaque, the CEO of Stability AI, hinted at going public with Stability AI with an initial public offering (IPO). Interestingly, according to the recent posts on Stability Ai, despite raising over $100 million in venture capital in October last year with a valuation exceeding $1 billion, it has struggled to generate revenue and is quickly depleting its cash reserves.
This new strategy comes with a critical challenge for Stability AI. Unlike Stable Diffusion, which the company did not develop in-house but partnered up with research organizations to create and improve, Stability AI mainly focused on providing cloud access to the computational power needed for training AI models rather than developing its models.
This strategy is changing for good. There were some notable developments several weeks ago, such as Stability AI released a set of text-generating AI models aimed at competing with systems like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and ChatGPT. In addition to that, Stability AI unveiled Stable Diffusion XL (SDXL), an upgraded version of the original model that introduces significant enhancements, such as the generation of hands.
This daring move by Stability AI, open-sourcing their project, aligns well with the company’s ongoing efforts to secure more funding. As time progresses, let us see how this move works out for them.
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