Midjourney is an AI tool-slash platform where users can generate images by giving a prompt to the AI. This is mainly done through Discord bot commands - you can enter your prompts in the Discord channel - and the tool generates your image. Read ahead to learn more about Midjourney, prompts, and how the platform can help you keep them private!
Midjourney’s Rise
Get your facts right!
- Launched in July 2022, Midjourney is one of the best generative AI tools we have today.
- It is used for generating images from natural language prompts - the AI tool is very powerful and can give you surrealistic images with shocking accuracy.
- Since its launch, the platform has risen in fame, thanks to its quality images and quick processing.
One of the interesting facts about Midjourney is that it is a self-funded platform. This fact will explain why Midjourney had to make a few hard decisions regarding its subscription plans earlier this year, which is explained later in the article. Midjounrey’s journey to success is wonderful, considering that its competitor DALL-E is backed up by a mega-corporation like OpenAI.
Working of Midjourney
Midjourney and its competitors have made AI image generation very easy and simple - all you have to do is give a very detailed prompt of a picture you want to see. For example, here is a picture from a series of anthropomorphized animals wearing military uniforms.
The realism and accuracy in this picture are stunning - for anyone, it would look like an actual cat wearing a military uniform and posing for the camera. However, only experts can see that it is an AI-generated image.
Here are some interesting facts about the working of Midjourney:
- Midjourney mainly uses large language models and diffusion models to generate such pictures.
- Both technologies are comparatively new and effective machine learning techniques that have produced extraordinary results.
- The prompts you enter are decoded by the language models and then fed into diffusion models. It is a complex process, but the results are definitely worth it.
Are Midjourney Prompts Public?
Now let us come to the more important question - are Midjourney prompts public? The answer is, yes, the prompts you enter in the discord channel are for public view. This opens up a new can of worms - many users have complained about their prompts and artwork getting stolen. Sometimes, users just copy other users’ prompts and ask the AI to generate art. This can cause quite a lot of trouble and irritation for the original prompter as their idea is stolen. Do not worry, there is a way around it - you can keep your image prompts safe and private with Midjourney's special mode. But the feature comes with a price. Literally.
Can you use Midjourney for Free?
When launched in July 2022, Midjourney allowed users to create images for free. It set a limit of 25 images per user - all you had to do was join the Discord server and give your prompts. But this saw a massive inflow of prompts, and at one point, the platform was unable to keep up with the demand. We have to remember that it takes a lot of complex software and hardware to run specialized AI image generators, and it was especially tough for Midjourney as it was self-funded. So, in April 2023, Midjourney announced that the free trial program would be paused momentarily. The company, then and now, allows a few days of free trial; otherwise, the free trial program has been discontinued for the foreseeable future. In other words, users have to pay a minimal fee to access Midjourney. This is where Midjourney’s brilliant subscription plans step in. The cheapest plan starts from $10 a month - users can access 3.5 hours of image generation time with the basic plan and extra GPU time comes at $4 per hour. But as the prices get higher, the benefits are better too.
In the Premium and Mega plans, Midjourney introduces the stealth mode. This is the solution for those users who want their prompts to be private. When you have enabled the stealth mode, you can privately submit your prompts and generate images as per your needs. All you have to add is a /private command and then submit your prompt in the private chat. If you are not interested in paying $60 per month for a subscription that lets you use the Stealth mode, here is a simple loophole that could help you - once your image is generated, you can save it to your device and delete it from the server gallery.
The Bottom Line
Long story short, if you have been thinking, “Are Midjourney prompts public?”, then sadly, the answer is yes. But Midjourney offers a range of subscription plans that help you stay “stealthy” and private with the Stealth Mode. Start your subscription today and have fun creating the perfect images you need with Midjourney!
