# midjourney: people

> david holz and the people around midjourney — the leap motion cofounder, the staff and advisors, and the community that writes the record.

## the people

- david holz (founder, davidsHolz): founder — he prefers it over ceo: 'ceo sounds very businessy, and we're not very businessy. we're an applied research lab that makes products.' southern florida tinkerer; a high-school microphone-array project took him to isef 2006 (he lost 'to somebody who cured a disease'). physics and math at unc, an applied-math phd he left while doing nasa langley and max planck research; then twelve years at leap motion — cofounder, cto through the 2019 ultraleap sale — before starting midjourney in august 2021 to escape 'a big venture-backed company.' runs near-weekly wednesday office hours on voice with ~1,000 listeners; society for science trustee. (sources: [an engine for the imagination](https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/2/23287173/ai-image-generation-art-midjourney-multiverse-interview-david-holz), [we're already profitable](https://www.theregister.com/software/2022/08/01/holz-founder-of-ai-art-service-midjourney-on-future-images/1198009), [the consent answer](https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/), [holz 23, florida tinkerer, isef mic project](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-05-24/david-holzs-leap-motion-wants-to-kill-the-mouse), [unc/nasa/max planck](https://www.societyforscience.org/alumni/notable/david-holz/), [waic remarks](https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230707A06ZVT00))
- michael buckwald (co-founder): the leap motion cofounder — holz's friend since middle school in florida, ceo through the controller launch, the collapsed apple talks, and the 2019 sale to ultrahaptics, at which point he departed. he is not a midjourney founder; he belongs to the prehistory. (sources: [founding story](https://www.inc.com/magazine/201306/eric-markowitz/leap-motion-changing-the-way-we-use-computers.html), [~$30m sale](https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/30/18645604/leap-motion-vr-hand-tracking-ultrahaptics-acquisition-rumor), [ocuspec history, rounds, acquisition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_Motion))
- ahmad abbas (team): head of hardware, joined december 2023 (revealed february 2024) — ex-apple vision pro engineering manager (~5 years), ex-neuralink (~9 months), ex-leap motion (~4 years). the team's early focus was 3d data capture; 'orb' was the reported project nickname. the program culminated in the june 2026 midjourney medical / scanner reveal. (sources: [ahmad abbas hire](https://the-decoder.com/apple-vision-pro-engineer-to-build-the-mid-journey-orb/), [corroboration](https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/midjourney-gains-top-talent-from-apple-to-drive-ai-image-generator-hardware-innovationsarticleid/article67828252.ece), [head of consumer hardware](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmad-abbas-28460662), [hardware team launch](https://the-decoder.com/midjourney-details-plans-for-ai-video-model-and-officially-launches-orb-hardware-project/))
- max kreminski (team): head of the storytelling lab — leads patchwork, the multiplayer infinite-canvas worldbuilding research preview launched december 2024: the first public artifact of the world-model agenda. (sources: [max kreminski, storytelling lab](https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/ai-image-video/midjourney-patchwork-is-a-new-ai-image-world-builder-and-i-dont-get-it), [patchwork launch](https://updates.midjourney.com/patchwork-research-preview/))
- banu güler (team): chief design officer by august 2026 — co-star co-founder and longtime holz friend; surfaced publicly co-hosting office hours with duncan wilson while holz was away. (sources: [banu güler cdo](https://medium.com/enthusiastically-midjourney/midjourney-info-27-week-of-august-10th-2026-9e774efea55c))
- duncan wilson (team, nacnud): web team lead — co-hosted the august 2026 office hours covering v8.1 draft mode and site-redesign items in alpha. (sources: [banu güler cdo](https://medium.com/enthusiastically-midjourney/midjourney-info-27-week-of-august-10th-2026-9e774efea55c))
- the 2022 roster (team): the archived about page listed eleven full-time people: holz as executive; research & engineering as first names only — daniel, max, jack, thomas, red, sam, nadir, sebastian; legal & finance as max sills (legal advisor) and nadia ali. alongside them, ~40 volunteer discord moderators and guides listed by handle. the names are confirmed by the archived page; current roles are not. (sources: [the 2022 about page (cached)](https://honeycomb.eurom.pt/pt/a/a09abe30ab9c7b218be4d56d105070276c8406ae/cache), [second mirror of about page](https://cokeep.me/links/KkTYWUo2a))
- the advisors (team): the 2022 about page's advisor list: jim keller (lead silicon at apple, amd, tesla, intel; cto tenstorrent), nat friedman (ex-github ceo), philip rosedale (second life founder), bill warner (avid founder — and a 2011 ocuspec angel), and katherine crowson — the independent researcher whose clip-guided diffusion is the work holz says 'struck my eye' in 2021. everydev additionally lists daniel gross; weaker sourcing. (sources: [the 2022 about page (cached)](https://honeycomb.eurom.pt/pt/a/a09abe30ab9c7b218be4d56d105070276c8406ae/cache), [nat friedman advisor](https://littlesis.org/relationships/1931419), [advisors incl](https://www.everydev.ai/developers/midjourney), [ocuspec $1](https://techcrunch.com/2011/06/10/ocuspec-raises-1-3m-from-andreessen-and-others-to-build-an-affordable-kinect/))
- the aggregator roster (team): rocketreach and everydev list current execs — nadia ali (coo), sharmeen chapp (cpo), tom calloway (vp special projects), alex matzner (vp operations), max sills (general counsel), bhavin patel (head of finance), brian kappus (technical director), keith caskey (principal mechanical engineer). aggregator data — reported, not verified; the org chart is one of this dossier's open gaps. (sources: [exec titles (reliability caveat)](https://rocketreach.co/midjourney-profile_b7923422c2226263), [advisors incl](https://www.everydev.ai/developers/midjourney))
- the community bench (team): non-employees who carry the news: nick st. pierre (@nickfloats), the evangelist whose relays first surfaced the stability ban; alie jules; and the recap writers — henrique centieiro, brian sykes, daniel reiser's imagine weekly, 'enthusiastically midjourney' weekly, paul delsignore. community coinage: 'miss journey,' the recurring default female face in early models. (sources: [nick st](https://petapixel.com/2024/03/08/midjourney-blocks-all-stability-ai-employees-after-alleged-data-theft-attempt/), [an engine for the imagination](https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/2/23287173/ai-image-generation-art-midjourney-multiverse-interview-david-holz), [office-hours recap](https://www.imagine-weekly.com/p/midjourney-office-hours-highlights-october-23rd), [banu güler cdo](https://medium.com/enthusiastically-midjourney/midjourney-info-27-week-of-august-10th-2026-9e774efea55c))
- the lab's own voice (team): the company writes collectively — the about page's 'independent research lab' self-description, the updates-site release notes (named author of most posts: 'caleb'), the livestreamed reveals. institutional voice, not personal authorship. (sources: [the 2022 about page (cached)](https://honeycomb.eurom.pt/pt/a/a09abe30ab9c7b218be4d56d105070276c8406ae/cache), [community-funded research lab of 60 people](https://www.midjourney.com/home), [v7 default](https://updates.midjourney.com/v7-is-now-the-default-model/))

## writings

- 2012-05-24 — the first profile (interview, holz, bloomberg businessweek): 'david holz's leap motion wants to kill the mouse' — the first national profile: holz 23, the florida tinkerer, the isef microphone project. [source](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-05-24/david-holzs-leap-motion-wants-to-kill-the-mouse)
- 2013-06 — the leap founding story (interview, holz, inc.): the inc. founding story — two 30-pound backpacks, a radio-shack prototype, and $45m raised for hand tracking. [source](https://www.inc.com/magazine/201306/eric-markowitz/leap-motion-changing-the-way-we-use-computers.html)
- 2022-08-01 — already profitable (interview, holz, the register): the register's claburn gets the business model on record a week before open beta went wide — self-funded, already profitable, and a credit to katherine crowson's clip-guided diffusion as the work that caught his eye. [source](https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/01/david_holz_midjourney/)
  > "we're like a self-funded research lab. we can lose some amount of money. we don't have like $100 million of somebody else's money to lose. to be honest, we're already profitable, and we're fine."
- 2022-08-02 — an engine for the imagination (interview, holz, the verge): james vincent's canonical profile — 'an engine for the imagination,' the dog→pink dog→aztec space dog co-imagining anecdote, ai-as-water, 'aesthetic accelerationism,' miss journey, and the first on-record training-data candor: 'everyone grabs everything they can… and they kind of set it on fire to train some huge thing.' [source](https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/2/23287173/ai-image-generation-art-midjourney-multiverse-interview-david-holz)
  > "cars are faster than humans, but that doesn't mean we stopped walking… we see this technology as an engine for the imagination."
  > "people totally misunderstand what ai is. they see it as a tiger… water is dangerous, but it's also a driver of civilization… we're making surfboards rather than making water."
  > "in 10 years, you'll be able to buy an xbox with a giant ai processor, and all the games are dreams."
- 2022 — how computers dream (podcast, holz, what future): 'how computers dream with david holz' — joshua topolsky's what future; the dreaming-machines frame before 'slop' entered the vocabulary. [source](https://omny.fm/shows/what-future/how-computers-dream-with-david-holz)
- 2022-09-16 — the consent answer (interview, holz, forbes): rob salkowitz's ethics interview — the most-quoted holz on record: 'a big scrape of the internet,' no opt-out of training and none of being named in prompts, a corporate license for companies over $1m revenue. three months later petapixel resurfaced the quotes as a flashpoint; the studios now cite them in filings. [source](https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/)
  > "no. there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from."
  > "the goal is to make humans more imaginative, not make imaginative machines."
- 2022 — the scale on record (interview, holz, mixed news): the scale disclosures: ~10 employees, 'several 100,000 customers,' ~10,000 servers, millions of images a day — self-reported, but the earliest numbers on record. [source](https://mixed-news.com/en/midjourney-david-holz-interview/)
- 2022-11-10 — the stratechery interview (interview, holz, stratechery): ben thompson's stratechery interview — generative ai, vr, silicon valley. paywalled; the contents are cataloged but not verified. [source](https://stratechery.com/2022/an-interview-with-midjourney-founder-david-holz-about-generative-ai-vr-and-silicon-valleys-latest-bubble/)
- 2023-07-07 — the name, at waic (talk, holz, waic): the waic shanghai video talk — the name's origin in a favorite translation of zhuangzi (中道, 'mid-journey') and 'ai should be an extension of ourselves.' [source](https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230707A03RQW00)
  > "we're actually mid journey… we come from this rich and beautiful past, and ahead of us is this wild and unimaginable… future."
- 2023-10-30 — the uist keynote (talk, holz, uist): 'a wide-ranging conversation with david holz' — the uist '23 keynote in san francisco, given the same day judge orrick largely dismissed the first andersen complaint. [source](https://programs.sigchi.org/uist/2023/program/content/114804)
- 2021– — the wednesday office hours (talk, holz, midjourney discord): the near-weekly wednesday voice calls on the discord — the company's de facto disclosure channel and the reason no official transcript exists. the world-simulation roadmap, the stability ban, the sora 'good enough' verdict, the sims-as-final-medium line ('no hard distinction between creators and players'), and the disney-suit comment all surfaced here first, preserved only in community recaps.
  > "we're really trying to get to the world simulation. we're building 3d midjourney, video mj, & real-time mj where things move really really fast… people will make video games in it, people will shoot movies in it, but the goal is to build the open world sandbox."
  > "there is 'good' and 'good enough'. i think there's nothing out there that is good enough… we will keep working on it until it's good enough."
  > "i can't really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn't cool like that, but i think midjourney is going to be around for a very long time. i think everybody wants us to be around."
- 2025 — the isef return (video, holz, society for science): the society for science retrospective and a short student interview at regeneron isef 2025 — the isef-alum-to-trustee arc, and midjourney sponsoring the 'technology enhances the arts' award while the lawsuits pile up.
  > "raising money is very different than having a product that people are willing to pay for. in some ways, if people aren't willing to pay for it, is it really adding value?"
- 2026-03-29 — the 2026 information interview (interview, holz, the information): 'midjourney is profitable and chasing hardware dreams. but can it survive google?' — revenue 'significantly surpassed' $200m and still growing despite declining traffic; the hardware ambitions might force the first vc raise. paywalled — relayed via winbuzzer and texxr. [source](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/midjourney-profitable-chasing-hardware-dreams-can-survive-google)
- 2022 — the about page (document, lab, midjourney.com): the 2022 about page — eleven staff by first name, the advisor list (keller, friedman, rosedale, warner, crowson), ~40 volunteer moderators. today's version reads 'a community-funded research lab of 60 people… a lean, self-funded, distributed team.'
  > "independent research lab exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species"
- 2022– — the release notes (post, lab, midjourney updates): updates.midjourney.com — the company's de facto blog and the primary record for every model release from v6.1 through v8.2, the editor, rooms, patchwork, mjtv, and the 'secret hardware project' teaser. most posts carry the byline 'caleb.' [source](https://updates.midjourney.com)
- 2025-08-06 — the fair-use answer (document, lab, c.d. cal. filing): the answer to the disney/universal complaint — the company argues its own theory of training: extracting statistical information to understand concepts, the way a person learns by looking. 'many dozens' of the plaintiffs' own employees hold subscriptions; bob iger is quoted back at them. [source](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Disney-v-Midjourney-Answer-to-Complaint-8-6-25.pdf)
  > "limited monopoly… must give way to fair use"
- 2026-06-17 — midjourney medical (document, lab, midjourney.com): the midjourney medical announcement — the scanner (water-immersion ultrasound-ct, 40 butterfly modules, ~½mm detail), the 300 grant ave spa targeting end-2027, and the ambition claims: 50,000+ scanners by ~2031, 'a billion scans a month.' announcement confirmed; the claims are goals. [source](https://www.midjourney.com/medical)

## controversies

- 2022– — the candor that became an exhibit: the consent candor — holz's on-record 'no' to artist consent and 'a big scrape of the internet' became the most-quoted founder statements in the whole training-data debate, then plaintiffs' exhibits in the andersen and disney filings. reaction: holz frames it as honesty about how everyone trains — 'something that 100% of people do'; artists and their lawyers read it as the confession. (sources: [the consent answer](https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/), [viral resurfacing of forbes quotes](https://petapixel.com/2022/12/21/midjourny-founder-admits-to-using-a-hundred-million-images-without-consent/), [holz quotes reused in complaint](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-universal-midjourney-1236262563/))
- 2018 — the anonymous quotes: the apple quotes — business insider's account of the collapsed leap motion deals quotes holz calling apple's technology 'sucked' and the company 'the devil,' all from anonymous employees. holz has never publicly confirmed them. reaction: the quotes do load-bearing work in every retelling of holz's anti-vc posture — they are marked reported, not confirmed, throughout this dossier. (sources: [the apple acquisition talks](https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-leap-motion-acquisition-talks-fell-through-2018-10), [summary of bi reporting](https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/31/apple-leap-motion-acquisition/))

AI-drafted at Ben Guo's direct request and credited to Hraness; every claim links to its cataloged source.

Canonical page: https://hraness.com/midjourney/people


Published by @ben in profile revision 1.
Original document: https://hraness.com/midjourney/people
Original credited author: Hraness
AI-drafted at Ben Guo's direct request and credited to Hraness; every claim links to its cataloged source.

## Structured source and record data

````json
{"anchors":[{"id":"founder","originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people#founder","title":"the founder"},{"id":"writing","originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people#writing","title":"the writing"},{"id":"team","originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people#team","title":"the team"},{"id":"appearances","originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people#appearances","title":"interviews and talks"},{"id":"philosophy","originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people#philosophy","title":"the philosophy"}],"provenance":{"draftingDisclosure":"AI-drafted at Ben Guo's direct request and credited to Hraness; every claim links to its cataloged source.","originalAuthor":"Hraness","originalRevision":"6cd64677d7ad2aa3ba3b4dcc1a113d7a349d347f6a82f1a03fbe8ef5b4c385d7","originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","source":"hraness"},"records":[{"id":"record-686f64ca55af6f1fd10f","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"david holz","original":{"handle":"davidsHolz","id":"holz","name":"david holz","note":"founder — he prefers it over ceo: 'ceo sounds very businessy, and we're not very businessy. we're an applied research lab that makes products.' southern florida tinkerer; a high-school microphone-array project took him to isef 2006 (he lost 'to somebody who cured a disease'). physics and math at unc, an applied-math phd he left while doing nasa langley and max planck research; then twelve years at leap motion — cofounder, cto through the 2019 ultraleap sale — before starting midjourney in august 2021 to escape 'a big venture-backed company.' runs near-weekly wednesday office hours on voice with ~1,000 listeners; society for science trustee.","role":"founder","sourceIds":["src-hp-verge-holz-2022","src-hp-register-holz-2022","src-ci-forbes-holz","src-hp-bloomberg-holz-2012","src-hp-societyforscience-bio","src-ci-qq-waic"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-daed779e1e16c05265fc","source-a07f999164a053e00799","source-c3d3c73be5c315ac7590","source-edbe2a1a7fdaf0d5e800","source-0f5e6fec32e5bac002be","source-3305de7ccef1adad60ed"]},{"id":"record-2a12e91c6c4b2d68702d","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"michael buckwald","original":{"handle":null,"id":"buckwald","name":"michael buckwald","note":"the leap motion cofounder — holz's friend since middle school in florida, ceo through the controller launch, the collapsed apple talks, and the 2019 sale to ultrahaptics, at which point he departed. he is not a midjourney founder; he belongs to the prehistory.","role":"co-founder","sourceIds":["src-hp-inc-leap-2013","src-hp-verge-ultraleap-2019","src-hp-wikipedia-leapmotion"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-67f0837374a8ff6acddf","source-bd6e1e6e8846c4585be4","source-5f2027d4404ccded2101"]},{"id":"record-6278381b4e7880410aa7","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"ahmad abbas","original":{"handle":null,"id":"abbas","name":"ahmad abbas","note":"head of hardware, joined december 2023 (revealed february 2024) — ex-apple vision pro engineering manager (~5 years), ex-neuralink (~9 months), ex-leap motion (~4 years). the team's early focus was 3d data capture; 'orb' was the reported project nickname. the program culminated in the june 2026 midjourney medical / scanner reveal.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-ci-decoder-orb-hire","src-hp-hindu-abbas-2024","src-hp-linkedin-abbas","src-ci-decoder-orb"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-89dd367efa0c39589816","source-b6a71eda2c7dcb53da81","source-355cbd2548f58edf063d","source-c059737c4e759181dd62"]},{"id":"record-498a2eec66d48ff05437","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"max kreminski","original":{"handle":null,"id":"kreminski","name":"max kreminski","note":"head of the storytelling lab — leads patchwork, the multiplayer infinite-canvas worldbuilding research preview launched december 2024: the first public artifact of the world-model agenda.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-hp-tomsguide-patchwork-2024","src-hp-mjupdates-patchwork-2024"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-b380be81a8503ad8625f","source-1eb55c28dacc7ede3a07"]},{"id":"record-069a59b9d0edb0d62958","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"banu güler","original":{"handle":null,"id":"guler","name":"banu güler","note":"chief design officer by august 2026 — co-star co-founder and longtime holz friend; surfaced publicly co-hosting office hours with duncan wilson while holz was away.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-hp-enthusiastically-officehours-20260812"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-4e02446d4c35eef5a93f"]},{"id":"record-b938426ccb23a652dfba","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"duncan wilson","original":{"handle":"nacnud","id":"wilson","name":"duncan wilson","note":"web team lead — co-hosted the august 2026 office hours covering v8.1 draft mode and site-redesign items in alpha.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-hp-enthusiastically-officehours-20260812"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-4e02446d4c35eef5a93f"]},{"id":"record-7e2cbef976185e710409","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"the 2022 roster","original":{"handle":null,"id":"staff-2022","name":"the 2022 roster","note":"the archived about page listed eleven full-time people: holz as executive; research & engineering as first names only — daniel, max, jack, thomas, red, sam, nadir, sebastian; legal & finance as max sills (legal advisor) and nadia ali. alongside them, ~40 volunteer discord moderators and guides listed by handle. the names are confirmed by the archived page; current roles are not.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-hp-midjourney-about-cache","src-hp-cokeep-about-cache"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-1dff748890ebcb9c591b","source-d5340c93d3338ce94097"]},{"id":"record-d69b91b4ee6649cd0298","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"the advisors","original":{"handle":null,"id":"advisors","name":"the advisors","note":"the 2022 about page's advisor list: jim keller (lead silicon at apple, amd, tesla, intel; cto tenstorrent), nat friedman (ex-github ceo), philip rosedale (second life founder), bill warner (avid founder — and a 2011 ocuspec angel), and katherine crowson — the independent researcher whose clip-guided diffusion is the work holz says 'struck my eye' in 2021. everydev additionally lists daniel gross; weaker sourcing.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-hp-midjourney-about-cache","src-hp-littlesis-friedman","src-hp-everydev-midjourney","src-hp-techcrunch-ocuspec-2011"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-1dff748890ebcb9c591b","source-4bab274fc6060de217bf","source-ce7854555751971d0601","source-ef5795eff577bfdc86c8"]},{"id":"record-e03aa56c2d6f7c4420b9","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"the aggregator roster","original":{"handle":null,"id":"roster","name":"the aggregator roster","note":"rocketreach and everydev list current execs — nadia ali (coo), sharmeen chapp (cpo), tom calloway (vp special projects), alex matzner (vp operations), max sills (general counsel), bhavin patel (head of finance), brian kappus (technical director), keith caskey (principal mechanical engineer). aggregator data — reported, not verified; the org chart is one of this dossier's open gaps.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-hp-rocketreach-midjourney","src-hp-everydev-midjourney"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-07b226fdc5b2fbe6a1c4","source-ce7854555751971d0601"]},{"id":"record-fdd7e2feaee0ddf09a8d","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"the community bench","original":{"handle":null,"id":"community-voices","name":"the community bench","note":"non-employees who carry the news: nick st. pierre (@nickfloats), the evangelist whose relays first surfaced the stability ban; alie jules; and the recap writers — henrique centieiro, brian sykes, daniel reiser's imagine weekly, 'enthusiastically midjourney' weekly, paul delsignore. community coinage: 'miss journey,' the recurring default female face in early models.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-hp-petapixel-stability-2024","src-hp-verge-holz-2022","src-hp-imagineweekly-officehours-20241023","src-hp-enthusiastically-officehours-20260812"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-93ad990205895fd42ada","source-daed779e1e16c05265fc","source-9398ca8039848326047d","source-4e02446d4c35eef5a93f"]},{"id":"record-812d27aba6a0459e48c2","kind":"midjourney-people","label":"the lab's own voice","original":{"handle":null,"id":"lab","name":"the lab's own voice","note":"the company writes collectively — the about page's 'independent research lab' self-description, the updates-site release notes (named author of most posts: 'caleb'), the livestreamed reveals. institutional voice, not personal authorship.","role":"team","sourceIds":["src-hp-midjourney-about-cache","src-hp-midjourney-home","src-hp-mjupdates-v7default-2025"]},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-1dff748890ebcb9c591b","source-177daca9de139ba37186","source-5ff3f748cd3d84397437"]},{"id":"record-be9f37793c1945cea361","kind":"midjourney-themes","label":"aesthetic accelerationism","original":{"text":"aesthetic accelerationism"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":[]},{"id":"record-98b5942c1b7794def2fd","kind":"midjourney-themes","label":"bootstrap independence","original":{"text":"bootstrap independence"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":[]},{"id":"record-ca27ce380a914bfce06b","kind":"midjourney-themes","label":"co-imagining community","original":{"text":"co-imagining community"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":[]},{"id":"record-bc99239d555a2fa1a98d","kind":"midjourney-themes","label":"engine for the imagination","original":{"text":"engine for the imagination"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":[]},{"id":"record-83d42630f7471f956995","kind":"midjourney-themes","label":"human infrastructure","original":{"text":"human infrastructure"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":[]},{"id":"record-99e5f4a2a684acfda573","kind":"midjourney-themes","label":"spatial computing","original":{"text":"spatial computing"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":[]},{"id":"record-89f0ce6fd4b911f2d934","kind":"midjourney-themes","label":"the consent answer","original":{"text":"the consent answer"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":[]},{"id":"record-67015891c50670476078","kind":"midjourney-themes","label":"the world-simulation bet","original":{"text":"the world-simulation bet"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":[]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2012-05-24"},"id":"record-aefa9bf1b4358b7ae598","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the first profile","original":{"date":"2012-05-24","id":"wrt-bloomberg-2012","kind":"interview","person":"holz","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-hp-bloomberg-holz-2012"],"summary":"'david holz's leap motion wants to kill the mouse' — the first national profile: holz 23, the florida tinkerer, the isef microphone project.","themes":["spatial computing"],"title":"the first profile","traction":null,"url":"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-05-24/david-holzs-leap-motion-wants-to-kill-the-mouse","venue":"bloomberg businessweek"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-edbe2a1a7fdaf0d5e800"]},{"date":{"precision":"month","text":"2013-06"},"id":"record-bcd1004ac22b08e0ec8f","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the leap founding story","original":{"date":"2013-06","id":"wrt-inc-2013","kind":"interview","person":"holz","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-hp-inc-leap-2013"],"summary":"the inc. founding story — two 30-pound backpacks, a radio-shack prototype, and $45m raised for hand tracking.","themes":["spatial computing"],"title":"the leap founding story","traction":null,"url":"https://www.inc.com/magazine/201306/eric-markowitz/leap-motion-changing-the-way-we-use-computers.html","venue":"inc."},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-67f0837374a8ff6acddf"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-08-01"},"id":"record-389016f2988b925dbd1e","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"already profitable","original":{"date":"2022-08-01","id":"wrt-register-2022","kind":"interview","person":"holz","quotes":[{"sourceId":"src-hp-register-holz-2022","text":"we're like a self-funded research lab. we can lose some amount of money. we don't have like $100 million of somebody else's money to lose. to be honest, we're already profitable, and we're fine."}],"sourceIds":["src-hp-register-holz-2022"],"summary":"the register's claburn gets the business model on record a week before open beta went wide — self-funded, already profitable, and a credit to katherine crowson's clip-guided diffusion as the work that caught his eye.","themes":["bootstrap independence","engine for the imagination"],"title":"already profitable","traction":null,"url":"https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/01/david_holz_midjourney/","venue":"the register"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-a07f999164a053e00799"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-08-02"},"id":"record-d92ef10348d471225f7f","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"an engine for the imagination","original":{"date":"2022-08-02","id":"wrt-verge-2022","kind":"interview","person":"holz","quotes":[{"sourceId":"src-hp-verge-holz-2022","text":"cars are faster than humans, but that doesn't mean we stopped walking… we see this technology as an engine for the imagination."},{"sourceId":"src-hp-verge-holz-2022","text":"people totally misunderstand what ai is. they see it as a tiger… water is dangerous, but it's also a driver of civilization… we're making surfboards rather than making water."},{"sourceId":"src-hp-verge-holz-2022","text":"in 10 years, you'll be able to buy an xbox with a giant ai processor, and all the games are dreams."}],"sourceIds":["src-hp-verge-holz-2022","src-ci-mindmatters-holz","src-ci-80lv-holz"],"summary":"james vincent's canonical profile — 'an engine for the imagination,' the dog→pink dog→aztec space dog co-imagining anecdote, ai-as-water, 'aesthetic accelerationism,' miss journey, and the first on-record training-data candor: 'everyone grabs everything they can… and they kind of set it on fire to train some huge thing.'","themes":["engine for the imagination","co-imagining community","aesthetic accelerationism","the world-simulation bet"],"title":"an engine for the imagination","traction":"the interview every later account quotes","url":"https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/2/23287173/ai-image-generation-art-midjourney-multiverse-interview-david-holz","venue":"the verge"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-daed779e1e16c05265fc","source-91a67ab101d346f45590","source-901b8d392224ab930f59"]},{"date":{"precision":"year","text":"2022"},"id":"record-f3584a5e6a033fc8943c","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"how computers dream","original":{"date":"2022","id":"wrt-whatfuture-2022","kind":"podcast","person":"holz","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-hp-whatfuture-holz-2022"],"summary":"'how computers dream with david holz' — joshua topolsky's what future; the dreaming-machines frame before 'slop' entered the vocabulary.","themes":["engine for the imagination"],"title":"how computers dream","traction":null,"url":"https://omny.fm/shows/what-future/how-computers-dream-with-david-holz","venue":"what future"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-244cc735c08bfecb723d"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-09-16"},"id":"record-5594d28733c32a0199b3","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the consent answer","original":{"date":"2022-09-16","id":"wrt-forbes-2022","kind":"interview","person":"holz","quotes":[{"sourceId":"src-ci-forbes-holz","text":"no. there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from."},{"sourceId":"src-ci-forbes-holz","text":"the goal is to make humans more imaginative, not make imaginative machines."}],"sourceIds":["src-ci-forbes-holz","src-ci-petapixel-consent"],"summary":"rob salkowitz's ethics interview — the most-quoted holz on record: 'a big scrape of the internet,' no opt-out of training and none of being named in prompts, a corporate license for companies over $1m revenue. three months later petapixel resurfaced the quotes as a flashpoint; the studios now cite them in filings.","themes":["the consent answer","engine for the imagination"],"title":"the consent answer","traction":"plaintiffs' exhibit","url":"https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/","venue":"forbes"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-c3d3c73be5c315ac7590","source-7f1180375b736157042d"]},{"date":{"precision":"year","text":"2022"},"id":"record-6572696de96d25f39427","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the scale on record","original":{"date":"2022","id":"wrt-mixednews-2022","kind":"interview","person":"holz","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-hp-mixednews-holz"],"summary":"the scale disclosures: ~10 employees, 'several 100,000 customers,' ~10,000 servers, millions of images a day — self-reported, but the earliest numbers on record.","themes":["bootstrap independence"],"title":"the scale on record","traction":null,"url":"https://mixed-news.com/en/midjourney-david-holz-interview/","venue":"mixed news"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-59df8bbc33470ee7d027"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-11-10"},"id":"record-66d6e4731b90f99319ad","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the stratechery interview","original":{"date":"2022-11-10","id":"wrt-stratechery-2022","kind":"interview","person":"holz","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-hp-stratechery-holz-2022"],"summary":"ben thompson's stratechery interview — generative ai, vr, silicon valley. paywalled; the contents are cataloged but not verified.","themes":["bootstrap independence"],"title":"the stratechery interview","traction":null,"url":"https://stratechery.com/2022/an-interview-with-midjourney-founder-david-holz-about-generative-ai-vr-and-silicon-valleys-latest-bubble/","venue":"stratechery"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-020542c4062ac6634d70"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2023-07-07"},"id":"record-d0721dd754fca9d1ec25","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the name, at waic","original":{"date":"2023-07-07","id":"wrt-waic-2023","kind":"talk","person":"holz","quotes":[{"sourceId":"src-hp-officechai-name","text":"we're actually mid journey… we come from this rich and beautiful past, and ahead of us is this wild and unimaginable… future."}],"sourceIds":["src-ci-qq-waic","src-hp-officechai-name"],"summary":"the waic shanghai video talk — the name's origin in a favorite translation of zhuangzi (中道, 'mid-journey') and 'ai should be an extension of ourselves.'","themes":["human infrastructure","engine for the imagination"],"title":"the name, at waic","traction":null,"url":"https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230707A03RQW00","venue":"waic"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-0ef23e161a9657348ddf","source-3305de7ccef1adad60ed"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2023-10-30"},"id":"record-191d4cd5b8bcd627eb2c","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the uist keynote","original":{"date":"2023-10-30","id":"wrt-uist-2023","kind":"talk","person":"holz","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-hp-uist-holz-2023"],"summary":"'a wide-ranging conversation with david holz' — the uist '23 keynote in san francisco, given the same day judge orrick largely dismissed the first andersen complaint.","themes":["human infrastructure"],"title":"the uist keynote","traction":null,"url":"https://programs.sigchi.org/uist/2023/program/content/114804","venue":"uist"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-da430f2cc5f086c6f2d2"]},{"date":{"precision":"approximate","text":"2021–"},"id":"record-f7bf5cfc59ec7831bfce","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the wednesday office hours","original":{"date":"2021–","id":"wrt-office-hours","kind":"talk","person":"holz","quotes":[{"sourceId":"src-hp-tomsguide-worldsim-2024","text":"we're really trying to get to the world simulation. we're building 3d midjourney, video mj, & real-time mj where things move really really fast… people will make video games in it, people will shoot movies in it, but the goal is to build the open world sandbox."},{"sourceId":"src-hp-linkedin-sykes-officehours-20240327","text":"there is 'good' and 'good enough'. i think there's nothing out there that is good enough… we will keep working on it until it's good enough."},{"sourceId":"src-hp-ap-holz-response-2025","text":"i can't really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn't cool like that, but i think midjourney is going to be around for a very long time. i think everybody wants us to be around."}],"sourceIds":["src-hp-tomsguide-worldsim-2024","src-hp-linkedin-sykes-officehours-20240327","src-hp-imagineweekly-officehours-20241023","src-hp-antoinebuteau-holz","src-hp-ap-holz-response-2025","src-ci-levelup-sims"],"summary":"the near-weekly wednesday voice calls on the discord — the company's de facto disclosure channel and the reason no official transcript exists. the world-simulation roadmap, the stability ban, the sora 'good enough' verdict, the sims-as-final-medium line ('no hard distinction between creators and players'), and the disney-suit comment all surfaced here first, preserved only in community recaps.","themes":["co-imagining community","the world-simulation bet","human infrastructure"],"title":"the wednesday office hours","traction":"~1,000 listeners on voice, four hours at a stretch","url":null,"venue":"midjourney discord"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-88f685cff40e5a14224f","source-5b67d87e345d45843fd8","source-7eec2ff31fa81a218cd5","source-9398ca8039848326047d","source-5de04133ac3cfedc3106","source-59fbbc682684476aa9fa"]},{"date":{"precision":"year","text":"2025"},"id":"record-23c1fdef670049545b16","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the isef return","original":{"date":"2025","id":"wrt-isef-society","kind":"video","person":"holz","quotes":[{"sourceId":"src-hp-societyforscience-holz","text":"raising money is very different than having a product that people are willing to pay for. in some ways, if people aren't willing to pay for it, is it really adding value?"}],"sourceIds":["src-hp-societyforscience-holz","src-hp-nathanma-isef-2025","src-hp-societyforscience-bio"],"summary":"the society for science retrospective and a short student interview at regeneron isef 2025 — the isef-alum-to-trustee arc, and midjourney sponsoring the 'technology enhances the arts' award while the lawsuits pile up.","themes":["bootstrap independence","human infrastructure"],"title":"the isef return","traction":null,"url":null,"venue":"society for science"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-5f72d6f33146da0921fa","source-a4f2251afa6cdaf0cad4","source-0f5e6fec32e5bac002be"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2026-03-29"},"id":"record-f31973e31e689c9a9abf","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the 2026 information interview","original":{"date":"2026-03-29","id":"wrt-information-2026","kind":"interview","person":"holz","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-hp-theinformation-hw-2026","src-hp-winbuzzer-2026","src-ci-texxr-200m"],"summary":"'midjourney is profitable and chasing hardware dreams. but can it survive google?' — revenue 'significantly surpassed' $200m and still growing despite declining traffic; the hardware ambitions might force the first vc raise. paywalled — relayed via winbuzzer and texxr.","themes":["bootstrap independence","the world-simulation bet"],"title":"the 2026 information interview","traction":null,"url":"https://www.theinformation.com/articles/midjourney-profitable-chasing-hardware-dreams-can-survive-google","venue":"the information"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-ffd79d292151d203dd98","source-b14e6e2084194d27a970","source-4ffefd23999dd7f00a53"]},{"date":{"precision":"year","text":"2022"},"id":"record-b2a17d207494f87d2648","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the about page","original":{"date":"2022","id":"wrt-about-page","kind":"document","person":"lab","quotes":[{"sourceId":"src-hp-midjourney-about-cache","text":"independent research lab exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species"}],"sourceIds":["src-hp-midjourney-about-cache","src-hp-cokeep-about-cache","src-hp-midjourney-home"],"summary":"the 2022 about page — eleven staff by first name, the advisor list (keller, friedman, rosedale, warner, crowson), ~40 volunteer moderators. today's version reads 'a community-funded research lab of 60 people… a lean, self-funded, distributed team.'","themes":["human infrastructure","bootstrap independence"],"title":"the about page","traction":null,"url":null,"venue":"midjourney.com"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-1dff748890ebcb9c591b","source-d5340c93d3338ce94097","source-177daca9de139ba37186"]},{"date":{"precision":"approximate","text":"2022–"},"id":"record-8e482e107c99014a25e9","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the release notes","original":{"date":"2022–","id":"wrt-release-notes","kind":"post","person":"lab","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-ci-mj-v61","src-ci-mj-v7-alpha","src-ci-mj-video-v1","src-ci-mj-v8-alpha","src-hp-mjupdates-hw-2026"],"summary":"updates.midjourney.com — the company's de facto blog and the primary record for every model release from v6.1 through v8.2, the editor, rooms, patchwork, mjtv, and the 'secret hardware project' teaser. most posts carry the byline 'caleb.'","themes":["the world-simulation bet","co-imagining community"],"title":"the release notes","traction":null,"url":"https://updates.midjourney.com","venue":"midjourney updates"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-dfe6ae6fef557d9a4394","source-ee22fb12b8b9a0fef2ce","source-ee5110774dbc53e49cff","source-16ef7916e3be4b0b47bb","source-06fce0e792896ff78069"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2025-08-06"},"id":"record-b3e1be0276754a1abba6","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"the fair-use answer","original":{"date":"2025-08-06","id":"wrt-fair-use-answer","kind":"document","person":"lab","quotes":[{"sourceId":"src-ci-lightreading-mj-answer","text":"limited monopoly… must give way to fair use"}],"sourceIds":["src-ci-mj-answer","src-ci-lawcom-fairuse","src-ci-artnet-fairuse","src-ci-lightreading-mj-answer"],"summary":"the answer to the disney/universal complaint — the company argues its own theory of training: extracting statistical information to understand concepts, the way a person learns by looking. 'many dozens' of the plaintiffs' own employees hold subscriptions; bob iger is quoted back at them.","themes":["the consent answer"],"title":"the fair-use answer","traction":null,"url":"https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Disney-v-Midjourney-Answer-to-Complaint-8-6-25.pdf","venue":"c.d. cal. filing"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-30300bf3e799309f5ecb","source-cc0c839eeabd559f318b","source-c16cb84dd75a2b6006b6","source-dc4237bb3def46a2e535"]},{"date":{"precision":"day","text":"2026-06-17"},"id":"record-f247cd5c07d94b79b66b","kind":"midjourney-writings","label":"midjourney medical","original":{"date":"2026-06-17","id":"wrt-medical-announce","kind":"document","person":"lab","quotes":[],"sourceIds":["src-hp-midjourney-medical-2026","src-hp-mjupdates-hw-2026","src-hp-verge-medical-2026"],"summary":"the midjourney medical announcement — the scanner (water-immersion ultrasound-ct, 40 butterfly modules, ~½mm detail), the 300 grant ave spa targeting end-2027, and the ambition claims: 50,000+ scanners by ~2031, 'a billion scans a month.' announcement confirmed; the claims are goals.","themes":["spatial computing","the world-simulation bet"],"title":"midjourney medical","traction":"~30k livestream viewers","url":"https://www.midjourney.com/medical","venue":"midjourney.com"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-79ade48c40703dbe29e4","source-06fce0e792896ff78069","source-9f77463b1851076544d4"]},{"date":{"precision":"approximate","text":"2022–"},"id":"record-64f6891e16b3f85fb05f","kind":"people-controversies","label":"the candor that became an exhibit","original":{"date":"2022–","detail":"the consent candor — holz's on-record 'no' to artist consent and 'a big scrape of the internet' became the most-quoted founder statements in the whole training-data debate, then plaintiffs' exhibits in the andersen and disney filings.","id":"cty-consent-candor","reaction":"holz frames it as honesty about how everyone trains — 'something that 100% of people do'; artists and their lawyers read it as the confession.","sourceIds":["src-ci-forbes-holz","src-ci-petapixel-consent","src-hp-hollywoodreporter-disney-2025"],"title":"the candor that became an exhibit"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-c3d3c73be5c315ac7590","source-7f1180375b736157042d","source-bbb84d4443f454d1573e"]},{"date":{"precision":"year","text":"2018"},"id":"record-5e78d50534cee747614a","kind":"people-controversies","label":"the anonymous quotes","original":{"date":"2018","detail":"the apple quotes — business insider's account of the collapsed leap motion deals quotes holz calling apple's technology 'sucked' and the company 'the devil,' all from anonymous employees. holz has never publicly confirmed them.","id":"cty-apple-quotes","reaction":"the quotes do load-bearing work in every retelling of holz's anti-vc posture — they are marked reported, not confirmed, throughout this dossier.","sourceIds":["src-hp-bi-apple-leap-2018","src-hp-9to5mac-apple-2018"],"title":"the anonymous quotes"},"originalUrl":"https://hraness.com/midjourney/people","sourceIds":["source-ced51ea476ca41538fe4","source-48e2db4b0c8f17a6a5b8"]}],"sources":[{"author":null,"id":"source-901b8d392224ab930f59","note":"verge-interview digest; cars/walking analogy verbatim","originalId":"src-ci-80lv-holz","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2022"},"publisher":"80.lv","title":"verge-interview digest","type":"reporting","url":"https://80.lv/articles/midjourney-founder-talked-about-its-art-style-copyright-what-ai-is"},{"author":null,"id":"source-dc4237bb3def46a2e535","note":"43-page response; \"cannot have it both ways\"","originalId":"src-ci-artnet-fairuse","published":{"precision":"month","text":"2025-08"},"publisher":"news.artnet.com","title":"43-page response","type":"reporting","url":"https://news.artnet.com/art-world/midjourney-fires-back-disney-and-universal-copyright-suit-2675798"},{"author":null,"id":"source-c059737c4e759181dd62","note":"hardware team launch; \"slow game engine\"; 60fps worlds","originalId":"src-ci-decoder-orb","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2024"},"publisher":"the-decoder.com","title":"hardware team launch","type":"reporting","url":"https://the-decoder.com/midjourney-details-plans-for-ai-video-model-and-officially-launches-orb-hardware-project/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-89dd367efa0c39589816","note":"ahmad abbas hire; 3d-data-capture focus; jan 2024 discord mentions; \"will make the orb\"","originalId":"src-ci-decoder-orb-hire","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2024"},"publisher":"the-decoder.com","title":"ahmad abbas hire","type":"reporting","url":"https://the-decoder.com/apple-vision-pro-engineer-to-build-the-mid-journey-orb/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-c3d3c73be5c315ac7590","note":"consent \"no\"; \"hundred million images\"; \"big scrape\"; no opt-out","originalId":"src-ci-forbes-holz","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-09-16"},"publisher":"forbes","title":"the consent answer","type":"interview","url":"https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-c16cb84dd75a2b6006b6","note":"transformative-fair-use analysis; meta/anthropic rulings context","originalId":"src-ci-lawcom-fairuse","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2025-08-08"},"publisher":"law.com","title":"transformative-fair-use analysis","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.law.com/therecorder/2025/08/08/in-copyright-case-ai-startup-argues-use-of-disney-universal-characters-to-train-ai-models-is-transformative-fair-use-/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-59fbbc682684476aa9fa","note":"\"sims\"/final-medium verbatim quotes","originalId":"src-ci-levelup-sims","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2024"},"publisher":"levelup.gitconnected.com","title":"sims/final-medium verbatim quotes","type":"reference","url":"https://levelup.gitconnected.com/david-holz-shared-his-long-term-midjourney-vision-open-real-time-virtual-world-c8a811f30901"},{"author":null,"id":"source-30300bf3e799309f5ecb","note":"\"limited monopoly…must give way to fair use\" verbatim","originalId":"src-ci-lightreading-mj-answer","published":{"precision":"month","text":"2025-08"},"publisher":"lightreading.com","title":"limited monopoly…must give way to fair use verbatim","type":"reference","url":"https://www.lightreading.com/ai-machine-learning/midjourney-wields-fair-use-defense-in-response-to-disney-nbcu-ai-lawsuit"},{"author":null,"id":"source-91a67ab101d346f45590","note":"extended holz \"it's just like an engine\" quote","originalId":"src-ci-mindmatters-holz","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-08-15"},"publisher":"mindmatters.ai","title":"extended holz its just like an engine quote","type":"reporting","url":"https://mindmatters.ai/2022/08/what-can-ai-text-to-image-generators-do-for-artists/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-cc0c839eeabd559f318b","note":"fair use; \"tens of millions of users\"; plaintiffs' employees subscribe; iger quote","originalId":"src-ci-mj-answer","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2025-08-06"},"publisher":"cdn.arstechnica.net","title":"midjourney's answer","type":"primary","url":"https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Disney-v-Midjourney-Answer-to-Complaint-8-6-25.pdf"},{"author":null,"id":"source-dfe6ae6fef557d9a4394","note":"v6.1 release notes; default","originalId":"src-ci-mj-v61","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2024-07-30"},"publisher":"updates.midjourney.com","title":"version 6.1 release notes","type":"primary","url":"https://updates.midjourney.com/version-6-1/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-ee22fb12b8b9a0fef2ce","note":"turbo/relax, draft mode, roadmap","originalId":"src-ci-mj-v7-alpha","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2025-04-04"},"publisher":"updates.midjourney.com","title":"turbo/relax, draft mode, roadmap","type":"primary","url":"https://updates.midjourney.com/v7-alpha/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-16ef7916e3be4b0b47bb","note":"v8 alpha; --hd 2k; --q 4; new prompting","originalId":"src-ci-mj-v8-alpha","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2026-03-17"},"publisher":"updates.midjourney.com","title":"v8 alpha","type":"primary","url":"https://updates.midjourney.com/v8-alpha/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-ee5110774dbc53e49cff","note":"image-to-video; 8× cost; \"25 times cheaper\"; extend to ~21s","originalId":"src-ci-mj-video-v1","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2025-06-18"},"publisher":"updates.midjourney.com","title":"image-to-video","type":"primary","url":"https://updates.midjourney.com/introducing-our-v1-video-model/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-7f1180375b736157042d","note":"viral resurfacing of forbes quotes; metadata rebuttals","originalId":"src-ci-petapixel-consent","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-12-21"},"publisher":"petapixel.com","title":"viral resurfacing of forbes quotes","type":"reporting","url":"https://petapixel.com/2022/12/21/midjourny-founder-admits-to-using-a-hundred-million-images-without-consent/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-3305de7ccef1adad60ed","note":"waic remarks; name from 庄周/zhuang zhou; \"extension of ourselves\"","originalId":"src-ci-qq-waic","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2023-07-07"},"publisher":"news.qq.com","title":"waic remarks","type":"reporting","url":"https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230707A06ZVT00"},{"author":null,"id":"source-4ffefd23999dd7f00a53","note":"holz: \"significantly surpassed\" $200m, \"gone up\" despite traffic decline","originalId":"src-ci-texxr-200m","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2026"},"publisher":"texxr.com","title":"holz: significantly surpassed $200m, gone up despite traffic decline","type":"reporting","url":"https://texxr.com/1166141/midjourney-reports-revenue-surpasses-200m"},{"author":null,"id":"source-48e2db4b0c8f17a6a5b8","note":"summary of bi reporting","originalId":"src-hp-9to5mac-apple-2018","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2018-10-31"},"publisher":"9to5mac.com","title":"summary of bi reporting","type":"reporting","url":"https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/31/apple-leap-motion-acquisition/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-5de04133ac3cfedc3106","note":"notes 2022-09-07 office-hours recording","originalId":"src-hp-antoinebuteau-holz","published":{"precision":"unknown","text":"undated"},"publisher":"antoinebuteau.com","title":"notes 2022-09-07 office-hours recording","type":"community","url":"https://www.antoinebuteau.com/lessons-from-david-holtz/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-7eec2ff31fa81a218cd5","note":"holz office-hours response verbatim","originalId":"src-hp-ap-holz-response-2025","published":{"precision":"month","text":"2025-06"},"publisher":"seattletimes.com","title":"holz office-hours response verbatim","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.seattletimes.com/business/disney-and-universal-sue-ai-firm-midjourney-for-copyright-infringement/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-ced51ea476ca41538fe4","note":"apple talks 2013 + spring 2018; $30–50m; \"the devil\"","originalId":"src-hp-bi-apple-leap-2018","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2018-10-31"},"publisher":"business insider","title":"the apple acquisition talks","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-leap-motion-acquisition-talks-fell-through-2018-10"},{"author":null,"id":"source-edbe2a1a7fdaf0d5e800","note":"holz 23, florida tinkerer, isef mic project","originalId":"src-hp-bloomberg-holz-2012","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2012-05-24"},"publisher":"bloomberg","title":"holz 23, florida tinkerer, isef mic project","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-05-24/david-holzs-leap-motion-wants-to-kill-the-mouse"},{"author":null,"id":"source-d5340c93d3338ce94097","note":"second mirror of about page","originalId":"src-hp-cokeep-about-cache","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2022"},"publisher":"cokeep.me","title":"second mirror of about page","type":"primary","url":"https://cokeep.me/links/KkTYWUo2a"},{"author":null,"id":"source-4e02446d4c35eef5a93f","note":"banu güler cdo; duncan wilson web lead","originalId":"src-hp-enthusiastically-officehours-20260812","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2026-08-12"},"publisher":"medium","title":"banu güler cdo","type":"community","url":"https://medium.com/enthusiastically-midjourney/midjourney-info-27-week-of-august-10th-2026-9e774efea55c"},{"author":null,"id":"source-ce7854555751971d0601","note":"advisors incl. daniel gross; calloway ex-red hat","originalId":"src-hp-everydev-midjourney","published":{"precision":"unknown","text":"undated"},"publisher":"everydev.ai","title":"advisors incl","type":"reference","url":"https://www.everydev.ai/developers/midjourney"},{"author":null,"id":"source-b6a71eda2c7dcb53da81","note":"corroboration","originalId":"src-hp-hindu-abbas-2024","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2024-02-09"},"publisher":"thehindu.com","title":"corroboration","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/midjourney-gains-top-talent-from-apple-to-drive-ai-image-generator-hardware-innovationsarticleid/article67828252.ece"},{"author":null,"id":"source-bbb84d4443f454d1573e","note":"holz quotes reused in complaint","originalId":"src-hp-hollywoodreporter-disney-2025","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2025-06-11"},"publisher":"hollywoodreporter.com","title":"holz quotes reused in complaint","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-universal-midjourney-1236262563/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-9398ca8039848326047d","note":"office-hours recap","originalId":"src-hp-imagineweekly-officehours-20241023","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2024-10-24"},"publisher":"imagine-weekly.com","title":"office-hours recap","type":"community","url":"https://www.imagine-weekly.com/p/midjourney-office-hours-highlights-october-23rd"},{"author":null,"id":"source-67f0837374a8ff6acddf","note":"founding story; $45m raised; middle-school friends","originalId":"src-hp-inc-leap-2013","published":{"precision":"month","text":"2013-06"},"publisher":"inc.","title":"founding story","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.inc.com/magazine/201306/eric-markowitz/leap-motion-changing-the-way-we-use-computers.html"},{"author":null,"id":"source-355cbd2548f58edf063d","note":"head of consumer hardware","originalId":"src-hp-linkedin-abbas","published":{"precision":"unknown","text":"undated"},"publisher":"linkedin","title":"head of consumer hardware","type":"primary","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmad-abbas-28460662"},{"author":null,"id":"source-5b67d87e345d45843fd8","note":"\"good enough\" quote re: sora","originalId":"src-hp-linkedin-sykes-officehours-20240327","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2024-03-27"},"publisher":"linkedin","title":"good enough quote re: sora","type":"community","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/midjourney-do-you-want-recap-brian-sykes-jacrc"},{"author":null,"id":"source-4bab274fc6060de217bf","note":"nat friedman advisor","originalId":"src-hp-littlesis-friedman","published":{"precision":"unknown","text":"undated"},"publisher":"littlesis.org","title":"nat friedman advisor","type":"reference","url":"https://littlesis.org/relationships/1931419"},{"author":null,"id":"source-1dff748890ebcb9c591b","note":"11 staff, advisors, mods list (3rd-party cache)","originalId":"src-hp-midjourney-about-cache","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2022"},"publisher":"honeycomb.eurom.pt","title":"the 2022 about page (cached)","type":"primary","url":"https://honeycomb.eurom.pt/pt/a/a09abe30ab9c7b218be4d56d105070276c8406ae/cache"},{"author":null,"id":"source-177daca9de139ba37186","note":"\"community-funded research lab of 60 people\"","originalId":"src-hp-midjourney-home","published":{"precision":"month","text":"2026-09"},"publisher":"midjourney.com","title":"community-funded research lab of 60 people","type":"primary","url":"https://www.midjourney.com/home"},{"author":null,"id":"source-79ade48c40703dbe29e4","note":"spa 2027; 50k scanners by 2031; fda path","originalId":"src-hp-midjourney-medical-2026","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2026-06-17"},"publisher":"midjourney.com","title":"midjourney medical announcement","type":"primary","url":"https://www.midjourney.com/medical/blogpost"},{"author":null,"id":"source-59df8bbc33470ee7d027","note":"100k+ customers, ~10k servers, ~10 employees","originalId":"src-hp-mixednews-holz","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2022"},"publisher":"mixed-news.com","title":"in 10 years, an xbox that dreams","type":"interview","url":"https://mixed-news.com/en/midjourney-ceo-in-10-years-xbox-ai-will-dream-your-video-game/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-06fce0e792896ff78069","note":"\"first secret hardware project\" 6/17 livestream","originalId":"src-hp-mjupdates-hw-2026","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2026-06-16"},"publisher":"updates.midjourney.com","title":"first secret hardware project 6/17 livestream","type":"primary","url":"https://updates.midjourney.com/hardware-announcement-livestream/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-1eb55c28dacc7ede3a07","note":"patchwork launch","originalId":"src-hp-mjupdates-patchwork-2024","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2024-12-11"},"publisher":"updates.midjourney.com","title":"patchwork launch","type":"primary","url":"https://updates.midjourney.com/patchwork-research-preview/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-5ff3f748cd3d84397437","note":"v7 default","originalId":"src-hp-mjupdates-v7default-2025","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2025-06-17"},"publisher":"updates.midjourney.com","title":"v7 default","type":"primary","url":"https://updates.midjourney.com/v7-is-now-the-default-model/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-a4f2251afa6cdaf0cad4","note":"holz at isef 2025","originalId":"src-hp-nathanma-isef-2025","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2025-06-01"},"publisher":"youtube","title":"holz at isef 2025","type":"interview","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsCxyMNP5Rk"},{"author":null,"id":"source-0ef23e161a9657348ddf","note":"english recap of name origin","originalId":"src-hp-officechai-name","published":{"precision":"unknown","text":"undated"},"publisher":"officechai","title":"english recap of name origin","type":"reference","url":"https://officechai.com/ai/midjourney-name-origin/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-93ad990205895fd42ada","note":"nick st. pierre relay","originalId":"src-hp-petapixel-stability-2024","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2024-03-08"},"publisher":"petapixel.com","title":"nick st","type":"reporting","url":"https://petapixel.com/2024/03/08/midjourney-blocks-all-stability-ai-employees-after-alleged-data-theft-attempt/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-a07f999164a053e00799","note":"\"already profitable\"; clip-guided diffusion; crowson","originalId":"src-hp-register-holz-2022","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-08-01"},"publisher":"theregister.com","title":"we're already profitable","type":"interview","url":"https://www.theregister.com/software/2022/08/01/holz-founder-of-ai-art-service-midjourney-on-future-images/1198009"},{"author":null,"id":"source-07b226fdc5b2fbe6a1c4","note":"exec titles (reliability caveat)","originalId":"src-hp-rocketreach-midjourney","published":{"precision":"unknown","text":"undated"},"publisher":"rocketreach.co","title":"exec titles (reliability caveat)","type":"reference","url":"https://rocketreach.co/midjourney-profile_b7923422c2226263"},{"author":null,"id":"source-0f5e6fec32e5bac002be","note":"unc/nasa/max planck; nlc 2020","originalId":"src-hp-societyforscience-bio","published":{"precision":"unknown","text":"undated"},"publisher":"societyforscience.org","title":"unc/nasa/max planck","type":"reference","url":"https://www.societyforscience.org/alumni/notable/david-holz/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-5f72d6f33146da0921fa","note":"isef alum interview; teca; trustee","originalId":"src-hp-societyforscience-holz","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2025"},"publisher":"societyforscience.org","title":"isef alum interview","type":"interview","url":"https://www.societyforscience.org/blog/from-isef-to-midjourney-founder-david-holz/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-020542c4062ac6634d70","note":"exists; contents unverified","originalId":"src-hp-stratechery-holz-2022","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-11-10"},"publisher":"stratechery","title":"exists","type":"interview","url":"https://stratechery.com/2022/an-interview-with-midjourney-founder-david-holz-about-generative-ai-vr-and-silicon-valley/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-ef5795eff577bfdc86c8","note":"ocuspec $1.3m seed; bill warner angel","originalId":"src-hp-techcrunch-ocuspec-2011","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2011-06-10"},"publisher":"techcrunch","title":"ocuspec $1","type":"reporting","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2011/06/10/ocuspec-raises-1-3m-from-andreessen-and-others-to-build-an-affordable-kinect/"},{"author":null,"id":"source-ffd79d292151d203dd98","note":"holz interview; hardware/vc","originalId":"src-hp-theinformation-hw-2026","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2026-03-29"},"publisher":"the information","title":"holz interview","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.theinformation.com/articles/midjourney-profitable-chasing-hardware-dreams-can-survive-google"},{"author":null,"id":"source-b380be81a8503ad8625f","note":"max kreminski, storytelling lab","originalId":"src-hp-tomsguide-patchwork-2024","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2024-12-12"},"publisher":"tomsguide.com","title":"max kreminski, storytelling lab","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/ai-image-video/midjourney-patchwork-is-a-new-ai-image-world-builder-and-i-dont-get-it"},{"author":null,"id":"source-88f685cff40e5a14224f","note":"\"world simulation\" office-hours quotes","originalId":"src-hp-tomsguide-worldsim-2024","published":{"precision":"month","text":"2024-03"},"publisher":"tomsguide.com","title":"world simulation office-hours quotes","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/ai-image-video/midjourney-announces-plans-to-create-an-ai-world-simulation-tool-in-full-3d"},{"author":null,"id":"source-da430f2cc5f086c6f2d2","note":"uist '23 keynote","originalId":"src-hp-uist-holz-2023","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2023-10-30"},"publisher":"programs.sigchi.org","title":"uist 23 keynote","type":"reporting","url":"https://programs.sigchi.org/uist/2023/program/session/127850"},{"author":null,"id":"source-daed779e1e16c05265fc","note":"canonical holz interview; all verbatim quotes","originalId":"src-hp-verge-holz-2022","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2022-08-02"},"publisher":"the verge","title":"an engine for the imagination","type":"interview","url":"https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/2/23287173/ai-image-generation-art-midjourney-multiverse-interview-david-holz"},{"author":null,"id":"source-9f77463b1851076544d4","note":"scanner details; ~12 scanned; holz quotes","originalId":"src-hp-verge-medical-2026","published":{"precision":"month","text":"2026-06"},"publisher":"the verge","title":"scanner details","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/952011/midjourney-medical-ai-ultrasound-scan"},{"author":null,"id":"source-bd6e1e6e8846c4585be4","note":"~$30m sale; $306m peak; buckwald exits","originalId":"src-hp-verge-ultraleap-2019","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2019-05-30"},"publisher":"the verge","title":"~$30m sale","type":"reporting","url":"https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/30/18645604/leap-motion-vr-hand-tracking-ultrahaptics-acquisition-rumor"},{"author":null,"id":"source-244cc735c08bfecb723d","note":"topolsky interview","originalId":"src-hp-whatfuture-holz-2022","published":{"precision":"year","text":"2022"},"publisher":"omny.fm","title":"topolsky interview","type":"interview","url":"https://omny.fm/shows/what-future/how-computers-dream-with-david-holz"},{"author":null,"id":"source-5f2027d4404ccded2101","note":"ocuspec history, rounds, acquisition","originalId":"src-hp-wikipedia-leapmotion","published":{"precision":"month","text":"2026-09"},"publisher":"wikipedia","title":"ocuspec history, rounds, acquisition","type":"reference","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_Motion"},{"author":null,"id":"source-b14e6e2084194d27a970","note":"recap of information interview","originalId":"src-hp-winbuzzer-2026","published":{"precision":"day","text":"2026-03-31"},"publisher":"winbuzzer.com","title":"recap of information interview","type":"reporting","url":"https://winbuzzer.com/2026/03/31/midjourney-revenue-above-200-million-hardware-push-xcxwbn/"}]}
````