Midjourney 6 AI Image Generator Rolls Out New And Innovative Character Reference Feature
The AI image generator from Midjourney 6 has plenty of people talking as it rolls out a new and innovative ‘character reference’ feature which enables users to use a single character across a long list of images.
The news was shared by the whole Midjourney Team during the later hours of Monday night.
This meant users would be given the chance to include more than a single URL link from the web or even put up character pictures that the AI could include. This would be aligned with the remaining part of the prompt to produce customized content depending on which kind of character reference was made.
Midjourney did confirm in the past how such new features are better known as cref and they’re great for characters produced by AI technology only. Such new kinds of features are very much like the currently used style reference endeavor.
This is not generated for the likes of real individuals or pictures, explained the firm’s admin member through a recently published blog post. Moreover, he similarly added how such actions could end up distorting the whole thing, similar to how a normal image prompt would function.
But does that mean users are prevented from trying? No, that’s not true. There was a single YouTuber who added that he got reference images of leading soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and even produced several kinds of pictures involving him. Such results are very much like Ronaldo and while they can vary in other regards, you can make the individual pop up in all kinds of styles and getups including cyberpunk.
While the latest feature is currently in testing as per reports from the new AI firm, we’ve managed to witness some pretty consistent image results so far. The strength of such character matches may be altered to ensure the character’s wardrobe stays the same or altered with the kind of image produced.
However, utilizing other kinds of online images that are not yours to produce new creations does not come without any risk. For starters, it would give rise to threat actors misusing the tool to produce deepfakes that are as convincing as ever.
Secondly, pulling all types of character references from others’ work might serve as copyright issues if the user tries to make it commercial or opt to publish the image elsewhere.
As it is, we’ve seen the masses speak against the use of such means to produce images as it gave rise to serious and many copyright lawsuits. After all, you’re using another person’s hard work to gain benefit without attaining any form of consent in that regard.
At the same time, we’re seeing more reports from visual artists who continually express serious concerns in terms of their content being copied and they’ve also gone as far as calling out Midjourney.
They refer to the act of copying others as shocking and dehumanizing. Moreover, they even went as far as to mention how it’s wrong to use other people’s work to gain profits without giving them any form of acknowledgment or financial compensation.
In the past, we saw Midjourney give rise to free trial offers but they removed the option in the past year thanks to abuse and excessive demand on offer right now.
Just this past week, we saw Midjourney add that it was on a Twitter blocking spree while alleging that its stark rival Stability AI put out botnet-like activities throughout the app.
As far as today’s recently published rollout is concerned, it’s mentioned that this V6 beta is arriving soon so stay tuned.
Image: Jonathan Kemper / Unsplash
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