by Cheryl Gilliver | Sep 25, 2023 | B2B PR Blog, Opinion, Photography and Video
Midjourney is an amazing AI tool to create images, that bring your PR, content and comms to life, but if you want to use it commercially, then you need to understand the pros and cons.
Midjourney is quickly becoming one of the most popular AI tools for generating images amongst marketing communications agencies. It uses artificial intelligence to create images based on text prompts, and the outputs are quite often stunning! In fact, our dramatic home page visuals and all our brand images have been created using Midjourney. Its ability to create crisp and precise variations in response to a few words is staggering, and effortless once you get started, and, honestly, a lot of fun.
A lot less trawling through image libraries
As content creators and graphic designers know, you can spend much longer looking for the ‘right images’ in stock image libraries than it takes to lay out an article or graphic. AI solves the problem: you can specify exactly what you’re looking for, including lighting, style, position, size, orientation, colours, etc. You can even use the URL of an image to direct Midjourney towards your goal.
An AI output can look like a natural photograph, but the subject isn’t real. It is a trial-and-error process, but if you start with a good visual idea, you have a high chance of success.
Most PR people have a creative eye and should be able to master the basics quite quickly. There is no longer any good reason to send out dull, uninspiring images with press materials – however you need to be aware of any copyright implications.
Who owns the AI images you create?
With a paid subscription ($10 + VAT per month), you can create up to 200 images per month and use them commercially. This means you own the image as a file, but you do not own any copyright of the image, and you cannot, by law, copyright it. (Copyright law requires the work of a human author, so if your image has AI components alongside sufficient human authorship, you could argue a case for copyright, but let’s conclude that you don’t have copyright.)
For businesses, then, this situation poses questions. No copyright means no need to pay for a commercial use licence. Still, you can’t stop others from using your business images, AI-generated logo, or any other AI graphics. In a way, it is not dissimilar to purchasing a stock image for your content. That can also be used by another person who buys a commercial licence, but with AI, there is no charge.
In the course of creating content for a client for say an Executive Profiling programme you may want to ensure you include sufficient visual branding clues to discourage direct competitors from pinching your best ideas.
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