Midjourney V7 gives the AI image-maker power, speed, and correctly shaped hands

• Midjourney has released a new AI model for producing images, Midjourney V7
• The model features improved image quality, prompt understanding, and personalization
• The new Draft Mode generates lower-quality images far faster and cheaper to allow testing

Midjourney has a new model to show off to fans of the AI image generator. Midjourney V7 is the company's first new AI image model in nearly a year, and it comes with some significant upgrades and additional features.

The company claims the new model is much smarter at turning your words into the images you envision, with higher-quality results that evade many of the telltale signs of artificial origins. The new model is also very focused on adapting to your personal taste.

So much so that you can't even use it before you first-rate about 200 images to teach the model your aesthetic unless, of course, you've already done so.

Once you've navigated through your own uncanny valley, the images Midjourney V7 serves up should appeal to you without as much massaging of your prompts.

This is the first Midjourney model to have this feature on by default, as well.

"[Midjourney V7 is] much smarter with text prompts, image prompts look fantastic, image quality is noticeably higher with beautiful textures, and bodies, hands and objects of all kinds have significantly better coherence on all details," Midjourney founder David Holz wrote on Discord. "We think personalization raises the bar for how well we can interpret what you want and what you find beautiful."

Draft the future

The new Draft Mode is Midjourney’s version of rough sketches on a napkin. The feature promises results fast, cheap, and just good enough to get your idea down without burning through your credits.

It works like this: You type a prompt, and Midjourney will have an image for you in seconds. The image might be a bit lower-res or slightly less polished, but you can enhance it later with one click. It’s AI for impatient people.

Notably, Draft Mode positions Midjourney as a viable tool for professionals who need speed and the option to iterate on their ideas. This kind of flexibility could make Midjourney appealing well beyond its Discord silo.

V7’s boost in prompt understanding, improved anatomy, and Draft Mode all suggest that Midjourney plans to increase its efforts to compete with other AI image generators as well.

It won't be as fast as Draft Mode image creation, though. OpenAI’s DALL·E has deep integrations with ChatGPT and Microsoft tools, as Google's Gemini does with its ecosystem.

Even so, Midjourney has always had a certain cult appeal that could mesh with its speedier model to entice many more users. If Midjourney can keep improving its speed, clarity, and output quality while keeping its signature flair, it might go mainstream without losing its indie cred.

The new model has two main versions: Turbo and Relax. Turbo costs more but delivers results much faster. Relax mode, meanwhile, takes its time but is cheaper.

Some features haven’t made the jump to V7 just yet. There’s no upscaling, inpainting, or retexturing. Holz says those will return soon, maybe within a couple of months.

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