Midjourney, an AI image generation startup, launched its first video generation model, V1, on June 18, 2025.

This model enables users to create short videos from images, producing four five-second clips for each input.

The model is available via Discord for web use and enters a market with strong competitors like OpenAI, Runway, Adobe, and Google.

Users can control motion manually or automatically, with videos capped at 21 seconds.

V1 costs more than Midjourney’s image tools, with video plans starting at US$10 per month.

The launch comes amid a copyright lawsuit by Disney and Universal over alleged IP violations.

.source-ref{font-size:0.85em;color:#666;display:block;margin-top:1em;}a.ask-tia-citation-link:hover{color:#11628d !important;background:#e9f6f5 !important;border-color:#11628d !important;text-decoration:none !important;}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){a.ask-tia-citation-link{font-size:11px !important;}}

🔗 Source: TechCrunch

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Hollywood’s strategic legal battle against generative AI

Disney and Universal’s lawsuit against Midjourney just one week before this video model launch represents a calculated first move in a broader legal strategy against AI-generated content.

The studios specifically targeted Midjourney rather than larger AI companies, potentially seeking to establish favorable legal precedents before taking on bigger players with deeper pockets 1.

Their complaint characterizes Midjourney as a “bottomless pit of plagiarism” and a “virtual vending machine” for copyright violations, focusing specifically on the outputs rather than training data 23.

This approach reflects the entertainment industry’s complex relationship with AI, embracing its potential while aggressively protecting valuable intellectual property that reportedly generated $300 million in revenue for Midjourney last year 4.

The timing of Midjourney’s video launch amid this legal challenge highlights the tension between rapid technological advancement and unresolved copyright questions that will shape the future of creative industries.

2️⃣ The technological evolution from GANs to video generation

Midjourney’s video model represents the latest step in a technological progression that began with Ian Goodfellow’s invention of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) in 2014 5.

GANs revolutionized AI’s creative capabilities by pitting two neural networks against each other—a generator and a discriminator—enabling machines to produce increasingly realistic content with fewer training examples than previous methods 5.

This breakthrough evolved from early computer art experiments in the 1950s that focused on generative aesthetics, laying the groundwork for today’s AI-generated video capabilities 6.

The progression from static images to video represents a significantly more complex technical challenge, as evidenced by Midjourney’s pricing structure charging 8x more for video generation than images.

Midjourney’s stated goal of eventually creating “real-time open-world simulations” signals that video generation is just an intermediate step in a broader technological trajectory that will continue to challenge both technical and legal boundaries.

……