The Verge article
Midjourney goes from generating cat images to full-body ultrasound scans
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/952011/midjourney-medical-ai-ultrasound-scan
Content partially translated from Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and edited.
Midjourney CEO David Holz announced the company's first hardware product and plans to build a spa in San Francisco.
He acknowledged that it was a departure from what Midjourney's AI image generator was originally known for, things like cat pictures. "The Midjourney Scanner," as the product is called, is a full-body scanner based on ultrasound technology. It uses a sensor ring to capture vertical cross-sections of the body's interior. The initial focus is on examining the composition of muscles, fat, bones, and organs. Holz said that the goal for this scanner is to "achieve image quality comparable to MRI in several ways," ideally making it usable once a year or even daily.
https://x.com/midjourney/status/2067421950314688759
https://x.com/midjourney/status/2067422898407837797
The scanning process begins with stepping onto a platform. As the platform descends along rails into water, a ring composed of thousands of transducers generates ultrasound waves. It records the waves passing through the body and analyzes them to create detailed 3D images. The scan takes approximately 60 seconds. Holz revealed that about 12 people have been scanned so far.
The system combines sensors with 2 petaflops of processing power. However, even after watching the live stream reveal, it remains unclear how Midjourney's AI image generation technology is precisely connected to its medical venture and whether it goes beyond simply utilizing leftover AI computing resources.
While various medical applications require FDA approval, Midjourney Medical currently focuses on creating "body composition maps" that don't necessitate the same level of approval as diagnostic imaging. Users can share their generated "scan library" with doctors or AI health tools. The company also stated its commitment to data privacy and promised to disclose detailed information about its data policy closer to launch.
Holz suggested that this scanning technology could ultimately surpass MRI in performance, enabling people to quickly assess their internal state without radiation, strong magnets, or other complex elements. In response to a question, he envisioned a future where the FDA creates a new device category for observing "weird" phenomena, allowing people to obtain "as much data as possible."
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