Stability AI has some exciting news to share! They’re releasing an open-source version of DreamStudio, which is a commercial interface for their AI image generator model called Stable Diffusion. In a press statement, the company mentioned that this new release, known as StableStudio, represents a fresh chapter for them. It’s not just about their commitment to advancing open-source development, but also serves as a showcase for what they can do.
However, it’s worth noting that Stability AI’s strategy can sometimes seem a bit unclear. With the introduction of StableStudio, it now exists alongside DreamStudio, potentially creating a bit of friendly competition within their product lineup.
While the company had plans to generate revenue by offering customized versions of DreamStudio to corporate clients, it’s uncertain how successful that approach has been so far. Reports have surfaced, raising concerns about Stability AI’s financial situation and shedding light on their collaboration with external parties to develop essential models like Stable Diffusion.
Now, why is this open-source version of DreamStudio a big deal for Stability AI? Well, it opens up the opportunity for community developers to dive in, improve, and experiment with the interface. That means outside experts can make it even better! And of course, if the community helps enhance DreamStudio, Stability AI will benefit from all those exciting improvements. In their press release, Stability AI made sure to highlight their focus on community building. They’ve gone the extra mile to make things extensible for external developers, allowing them to embrace local-first development and play around with a new plugin system.
And just recently, they unleashed StableLM, a suite of open-source large language models (LLMs). The CEO and founder of Stability AI, Emad Mostaque, has been a vocal advocate for open-source AI tools. He firmly believes that open models are crucial for handling private data, which builds trust among the public. During a Zoom call with the press in April, Mostaque emphasized the significance of openness.
But wait, there’s more! Stability AI has been quite a fan of open-source approaches. They’ve been generous enough to offer various versions of Stable Diffusion for free since its release in August 2022.
In their press statement on Wednesday, Stability AI said the new release — dubbed StableStudio — “marks a fresh chapter” for the platform and will serve as a showcase for the company’s “dedication to advancing open-source development.”
Stability AI stressed community building in its press release, noting how “from enabling local-first development, to experimenting with a new plugin system, we’ve tried hard to make things extensible for external developers.”
Stability AI has previously leaned hard on its open-source approach to create interest in its products.
Various versions of Stable Diffusion have been freely available to download and tinker with since the model was publicly released back in August 2022, and last month, the company released a suite of open-source large language models (LLMs) collectively called StableLM.
Stability AI’s founder and CEO, Emad Mostaque, has been outspoken about the importance of making AI tools open source in order to increase public trust, claiming that “open models will be essential for private data,” in a Zoom call with the press last month.
