Stability AI: Open Source GenAI Leader in Image Generation in '24

Known for its open AI tools, Stability AI raised $101 million in October/2022 in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, and O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC. The funding round gave the company unicorn status, according to a Bloomberg source.¹

There has been controversy around Stability AI and its text-to-image generative AI model, Stable Diffusion, which has resurfaced in the wake of this news.² The controversy relates to the possible negative consequences of the open-source image generation tool, such as copyright and safety concerns.

In this article, we’ll explore generative AI in general and Stability AI in particular, discuss their possible legal and ethical ramifications, and situate them into the context of AI ethics.

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence (AI) tools that create visual, audio, text, or motion content from existing content. Generative AI tools enable users to make image-to-image conversions, text-to-image translations, frontal face image generation, etc. There are a variety of applications for these tools, including:

• Face verification
• Medical diagnosis
• Movie restoration
• Identity protection
• Audio production in video games

However, the use generative AI technology faces legal and ethical challenges, including the dissemination of misinformation via fake images and videos, that harm personal rights and mislead public opinion. Check our comprehensive article on use cases and challenges of generative AI for a more comprehensive account.

What is Stability AI?

Stability AI is a company that produces open AI tools. Its claimed aim is to make AI accessible for everyone as stated in its motto (“AI by the people, for the people”). Emad Mostaque, the founder of Stability AI, defines their aim as the “democratization of AI”.

There is no rose without a thorn and democratization of generative AI is leading to critiques about the misuse of Stable Diffusion, one of the company’s generative AI tools. The open-source tool allows users to generate images based on text descriptions.

Criticisms directed at the tool can be classified as:

• Offensive content generation: Even though Stable Diffusion includes content filters, the publicly shared code and model can be used to bypass them. This sets Stable Diffusion apart from other text-to-image generative AI tools like DALL·E and MidJourney.
• Misuse against personal rights: A major problem with users eluding these filters is that it can risk personal rights, especially the rights of women, children, and minorities. Blackmailing, child abuse, and sexual exploitation are some of the possible destructive consequences of the uncontrolled and underdeveloped qualities of such a tool. The statistics reveal that 96% of deepfakes are sexual content that is unauthorized, and almost all of them are targeted at women.

The main argument of Stability AI executives relies on the belief in the neutrality of technological advancements, as well as optimism regarding the constructive use of tools, rather than misuse. The founder of Stability AI believes that the technology of generative AI requires transparency instead of control mechanisms for its development.³

Further Reading

This controversy is not limited to Stability AI’s generative AI tools. It is part of the larger discussions around bias in AI algorithms and AI ethics, which are expanding research fields as both AI’s capabilities and the responsibilities of AI companies increase. According to a recent report, the number of publications on AI ethics, fairness, and transparency has quintupled within the last 8 years.⁴

Please feel free to refer to these articles if you have any further questions about the potential remedies for biases and ethical concerns related to AI, and also for developing a responsible AI:

• Bias in AI: What it is, Types, Examples & 6 Ways to Fix it
• Top 9 Ethical Dilemmas of AI and How to Navigate Them
• 4 Principles of Responsible AI & Best Practices to Adopt Them

If you have other questions, feel free to ask:

External Links

• 1. Fatunde, M., Tse, C. (17 October 2022). “Stability AI Raises Seed Round at $1 Billion Value”. Bloomberg. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
• 2. Roose, K. (21 October 2022). “A Coming-Out Party for Generative A.I., Silicon Valley’s New Craze”. The New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
• 3. Roose, K. (21 October 2022). “A Coming-Out Party for Generative A.I., Silicon Valley’s New Craze”. The New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
• 4. Clark, J., Perrault, R. (March 2022). “The AI Index 2022 Annual Report”, AI Index Steering Committee, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University.