Stability AI Launches Open Source MidJourney Competitor "Stable Diffusion XL 1.0"

Ethical Issues

The release of Stability AI's open-source model, Stable Diffusion XL 1.0, has sparked significant ethical concerns. Critics argue that the model could be exploited to generate harmful or toxic content, such as non-consensual deepfakes, which could mislead the public and damage reputations. Jaeden Schafer acknowledges these risks but emphasizes that the company has implemented measures to mitigate them, including filtering training data for unsafe imagery and blocking problematic terms 1.

The worry here that a lot of people have is you could theoretically do a lot of that kind of stuff on mid journey, but mid journey being a platform that is able to try to crack down.

--- Jaeden Schafer

Despite these efforts, the potential for misuse remains a significant concern for many in the industry.

   

Legal Challenges

Stability AI faces legal challenges concerning the use of artists' works in its training data. Jaeden Schafer notes that artists and companies like Getty Images have protested against their work being used without consent, leading to disputes over intellectual property rights 1. Stability AI claims its actions fall under fair use but has pledged to respect opt-out requests from artists.

Legal disputes have actually arisen, particularly involving artists and stock photo company Getty Images.

--- Jaeden Schafer

The company is also introducing a fine-tuning feature to allow users to specialize generation on specific subjects, further complicating the legal landscape.