Midjourney Is Profitable and Chasing Hardware Dreams. But Can It Survive Google?Midjourney Is Profitable and Chasing Hardware Dreams. But Can It Survive Google?Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.
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Midjourney Is Profitable and Chasing Hardware Dreams. But Can It Survive Google?

The competition around founder David Holz has intensified, and his plans greatly exceed his initial creation, an AI image-making tool beloved by artists. He may even have to do the once unthinkable: accept venture capital.

By
Jemima McEvoy

Over much of the past year, David Holz, the 37-year-old founder of Midjourney, has devoted himself to a single task: reassuring fans of his AI image-making tool that a new, significant update—version 8—would indeed arrive soon.

Initially, Holz said it might come at the end of 2025. That date slipped to January. Then February. Then earlier this month.

On March 11, Midjourney users confronted Holz about version 8’s ETA on Discord, where Holz takes public questions once a week over video chat in a group with 19.4 million followers.

“I don’t want to be a jerk,” he said, appearing only as a blue dragon avatar with his camera off, “but however stressed you are waiting, we’re probably more stressed doing the actual work.” They should wait patiently, he said, and in the meantime, he advised them to go “touch grass.”