Image Generation

Today's Stories

1. 1

   Midjourney demands studios reveal their own AI training to prove fair use

   Midjourney has filed a motion to review a mid-June court ruling that blocked the image-generation AI company from requiring Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. to disclose how they use AI themselves. The studios sued Midjourney in 2025, alleging the company infringed copyrights of franchises including Superman, Scooby-Doo, and Yoda by training its models on publicly available images. Midjourney argues that if the studios are themselves training AI models on third-party copyrighted works scraped from the internet, that conduct would serve as evidence the industry considers such use to be fair use under copyright law. The outcome of this case may determine how copyright law applies to AI training across the industry, with consequences for artists, art markets, and companies building AI systems.

   US copyright law allows unlicensed use of copyrighted material under a "fair use" exception based on several factors—purpose, nature of the work, how much was copied, and market impact. Courts have ruled in some prior AI cases that training is transformative fair use, but fair use remains an unsettled area of law; it is unclear when the California district court will rule on Midjourney's motion.

2. 2

   Fudge launches web design reference tool for AI

   Fudge has released a web design reference platform at design.withfudge.com, offering design examples and resources intended to help AI systems generate better web designs. As AI tools become more capable at code generation and design tasks, having curated reference materials can improve the quality and consistency of AI-generated websites—potentially reducing manual design work for businesses and developers.

   The tool is available now at design.withfudge.com; adoption by AI development teams and design professionals will signal whether this reference approach meaningfully improves AI output quality.

3. 3

   Meta releases Muse Image, ranks #2 in AI photo generation

   Meta launched Muse Image, its first image generation model from Superintelligence Labs, which works as an AI agent that iteratively refines outputs by calling tools like code generation and web search. On the Image Arena evaluation platform, Muse Image ranks second in human preference scores for text-to-image and for both single- and multi-image editing, behind only OpenAI's GPT Image 2. The model is now available in Meta AI app, on meta.ai, in Instagram Stories in the US, and in WhatsApp—reaching Meta's largest user bases. However, a newly introduced feature allows users to @-mention public Instagram accounts in prompts so Meta AI pulls photos from those profiles to generate images of that person with no consent required. The feature is on by default and appears set to face regulatory scrutiny in Europe under GDPR and the EU AI Act's deepfake labeling rules, which take effect August 2, 2026.

   Meta's invisible watermark system, Content Seal, survives cropping and compression, but whether a machine-readable watermark alone satisfies the EU AI Act's requirement that AI-generated images resembling real people be labeled in a way recognizable to affected people remains an open question. Images already generated will not be deleted even if users opt out of the feature.

4. 4

   Meta launches Muse Image AI to generate and edit photos in chat, Instagram, WhatsApp

   Meta is rolling out Muse Image, its first image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, now available in Meta AI. The model powers more than 30 new AI-powered effects for Instagram Stories and enables image generation in WhatsApp direct chats starting in limited countries. Users can also @-mention Instagram accounts to bring public photos into their generated images. Muse Image gives Meta AI users a creative tool that works in conversational language, handling complex tasks like erasing photobombers, rendering legible text in visuals, and redesigning rooms with real products from Facebook Marketplace. For advertisers and agencies, Muse Image will become available through Advantage+ creative in the coming weeks, expanding creative options for campaign production.

   Meta will expand Muse Image to more countries and to Facebook, Messenger, and additional surfaces on Instagram and WhatsApp in the coming weeks. Using Meta AI with Muse Image is free for everyday creation; subscription plans offer more capacity. Muse Video is already in development.

5. 5

   Meta Launches Muse Image, AI Photo Generator—Stock Rises 3%

   Meta introduced Muse Image, its first standalone image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs. The tool blends multiple photos, pulls Instagram profile imagery via @-mentions, and offers over 30 new creative effects. It integrates with Meta's Muse Spark text model and is being rolled out to WhatsApp and Instagram users. Meta Platforms Inc. (META) share price added 3% on Tuesday following the announcement. Meta's previous image and text models have lagged rivals like Google's Nano Banana and OpenAI's GPT Image 1.5. Muse Image addresses this by analyzing complex requests, overlaying real-world context, and accurately rendering text within images—problems earlier AI image tools struggled with. The rollout reflects CEO Mark Zuckerberg's broader effort to catch up with Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic, efforts that have driven spending increases and layoffs at Meta.

   The basic functions will remain free for standard consumer tiers, though they will also be packaged as part of Meta's premium subscription plans. Meta has already begun development of Muse Video, a next-generation tier aimed at a holistic suite of personal assistant tools.

6. 6

   Meta launches Muse Image AI model with Instagram photo tagging

   Meta's Superintelligence Labs has released Muse Image, an AI image generation model now powering tools across Meta AI, Instagram, and WhatsApp, with rollout to Facebook and Messenger coming soon. Users can @mention other Instagram accounts in prompts to incorporate their likeness into generated images, and the model can redesign rooms, transform images with suggested prompts, and enable direct editing by drawing on photos. Muse Image replaces Meta's Llama lineup as part of a broader shift toward a new family of AI models. The model works with Muse Spark (a large language model that reasons through prompts, searches the web, and plans before generating) and positions Meta to compete in image and video generation. Users retain control over how their likeness can be reused for AI, addressing a potential concern around consent.

   Meta is planning to launch a Muse Video model, which Wang says is "competitive on prompt adherence, visual fidelity, temporal consistency." Thirty new AI effects are coming to Instagram Stories in the US before rolling out to other countries and areas of Meta's apps.