Image Generation

Today's Stories

1. 1

   China beauty firms use AI to slash product development from years to months

   Yatsen Holding, a Chinese beauty company, used artificial intelligence to compress a product development cycle from more than two years into six months for a new PDRN serum launched around China's Singles' Day shopping festival last fall. AI helped researchers narrow more than 50 ingredient candidates to three in a single week. Chinese beauty companies are using AI across the entire product pipeline—analyzing millions of social media posts to spot trends, identifying new cosmetic ingredients through biotech partnerships, and accelerating time-to-market. This speed advantage helps local firms close an innovation gap and respond faster to consumer demand.

   The pace of product launches from Chinese beauty companies may increase as AI-driven workflows become standard. The ability to reduce development cycles from years to months could reshape how quickly new formulations reach shelves across the region.

2. 2

   Hugging Face hosting thousands of deepfake nude tools

   Researchers at AI Forensics tested image editing tools on Hugging Face and found that 7 of 9 top tools easily converted clothed images of women into topless ones. In a separate test using a honeypot, they collected over 1,000 prompts in a week; 73 percent were sexual in nature, with 83 percent of those seeking to undress or sexualize submitted photos—95 percent targeting women, and 6.7 percent targeting apparent children. Hugging Face, valued in the billions, hosts around 5,000 AI image models capable of creating nonconsensual intimate images of real people, yet appears to lack platform-level safeguards. Unlike mainstream models from OpenAI and Google that use safety mechanisms called guardrails, the open-source models on Hugging Face can be easily misused with simple prompts—and are actively being used that way by thousands of people weekly.

   Hugging Face did not respond to WIRED's questions about its content moderation. Some pages promoting nudifying services were removed after WIRED contacted the company, though the connection is unclear. The EU and UK plan to ban "nudify" apps by the end of the year.

3. 3

   Jack Conte on AI's role in the future of online creativity

   Jack Conte, the founder of Patreon, shared views on how artificial intelligence will shape the future of creative work on the internet in a video presentation. As the leader of a platform that helps millions of creators earn money directly from their audiences, Conte's perspective on AI's impact on creativity and creator economics carries weight for anyone building or relying on creative work online.

   The video is available on YouTube at the URL provided, offering Conte's full argument on how creators and the internet ecosystem may adapt as AI becomes more prevalent.

4. 4

   Midjourney acquires astrology app Co-Star, appoints founder as chief design officer

   Midjourney, an AI image-generation startup, acquired the personalized astrology app Co-Star in a deal that closed in spring. Co-Star's founder Banu Guler will remain in charge of the app and will also become Midjourney's chief design officer. Co-Star combines human insight, NASA data, and AI to deliver personalized daily horoscopes and compatibility checks. The acquisition signals Midjourney's expansion beyond image generation into consumer apps, and Guler's design expertise may help shape how Midjourney builds its first dedicated applications.

   Midjourney plans to develop its first apps, including one dedicated to image generation. Currently, Midjourney's AI models operate through the web and Discord; these new apps represent a shift toward standalone products. The deal terms have not been disclosed.

5. 5

   Midjourney acquires astrology app Co-Star

   Midjourney, an AI lab known for image and video generators, has acquired the social astrology app Co-Star. Deal terms were not disclosed. Co-Star's team of about two dozen employees has joined Midjourney. Co-Star has about 4.3 million monthly active users and uses AI and human writing to generate horoscopes and astrological compatibility assessments. The acquisition signals Midjourney's expansion beyond its core image-generation business into consumer-facing apps, following its efforts to build medical and spa divisions.

   Midjourney currently operates primarily through Discord with no standalone app. Co-Star's team's experience building consumer apps suggests Midjourney may finally develop its own standalone application.

6. 6

   Black Forest Labs launches FLUX 3 multimodal model spanning video, audio, robotics

   Black Forest Labs announced FLUX 3, a unified multimodal model trained in a single architecture that handles image, video, audio generation, and action prediction. The company also unveiled FLUX-mimic, a video-action robotics model built on FLUX 3 and tested with Audi for real factory deployment on a single on-premises GPU. FLUX 3 reproduces and extends capabilities previously demonstrated separately by other frontier labs (Gemini Omni, Grok Imagine, Seedance 2.0), with the team committing to open an open-weights developer version. The robotics application signals that video world modeling can directly transfer to robot control, potentially lowering barriers for labs building competitive open models without reliance on closed ecosystems.

   FLUX 3 Video is currently in early access. The model's ability to unify image, video, audio, and robotics control in one architecture—trained jointly rather than as separate modules—will shape whether multimodal systems become industry standard or remain fragmented by task.