(Credit: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)
The Midjourney 6 AI image generator, which is currently in alpha and operates through Discord, has released a new "character reference" feature that allows users to effectively use a single character across different images, the Midjourney team shared on Monday night.
This means users can add one or more web URL links or upload character images and the AI can incorporate that character along with the rest of a prompt to generate custom content based on that character reference.
But Midjourney says the new feature, also known as "cref," is best for characters created by the AI itself. This new feature is similar to Midjourney's existing "style reference" feature.
"It's not designed for real people/photos," a Midjourney Discord admin wrote in the announcement post, adding that doing so "will likely distort them as regular image prompts do."
That hasn't stopped Midjourney users from trying, though. One YouTuber already managed to get Midjourney to take a reference image of soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and generate multiple different images of him. The results definitely resemble Ronaldo, albeit to varying extents, even depicting him as a character from a dystopian cyberpunk world.
While the new feature is still being tested, according to the AI firm, it's already generated some consistent results. The "strength" of the character match can be tuned so that the character's outfit remains consistent or changes with every image generated.
But using others' online images to generate new ones poses some ethical concerns. For one, Midjourney's new character reference tool could make it even easier for bad actors to make convincing deepfakes.
Pulling character references from artists' work could also pose copyright concerns if users then attempt to commercialize or otherwise publish their Midjourney creations. Generative AI tools have already sparked a number of copyright lawsuits, from The New York Times fighting OpenAI and Microsoft to a group of book authors suing Nvidia. Such litigation also raises questions around whether or to what extent generative AI tools and their creations violate existing copyright laws by pulling from artists' protected work without their consent.
Visual artists have also expressed their concerns when it comes to Midjourney specifically, calling it "dehumanizing" and criticizing it for using artists' work for profit without compensation.
Midjourney previously offered a free trial, but removed the option last year due to "abuse" and high demand. Last week, Midjourney also reportedly went on a Twitter blocking spree and alleged that rival Stability AI employees deployed "botnet-like activity" onto its platform.
Midjourney's Monday announcement states that its V6 beta is "coming soon."