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The online AI-powered text-to- image generator Midjourney, has stopped offering a free trial of its AI image generator after users abused it to create fake pictures of high-profile persons.
Midjourney CEO David Holz explained the decision on the company’s Discord channel, citing “extraordinary demand and trial abuse” as the reasons for the decision.
Holz said the company’s safeguards for abuse during trial periods had proven insufficient therefore to access Midjourney, users must pay at least US$10 per month.
Midjourney has faced heavy criticism in the past few weeks after several fake images of famous people created with the tool went viral.
Among the incidents of abuse, Midjourney was used to create images of Donald Trump being chased and arrested by police officers and Pope Francis wearing a white Balenciaga puffer coat.
Holz added that when posted without context, some people believed the aforementioned pictures showed real-life events. However, he acknowledged that setting content policies for the generator had become difficult as it produced ever-more realistic creations.
Midjourney previously banned images of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to “minimise drama” and avoid a potential ban in China.
It has also banned prompts with words for parts of the human reproductive system to clamp down on the creation of disturbing sexualised images.
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