Author|Shizuru Takeshizu
Editor|Su Jianxun
Another well-known AI unicorn has undergone a management change.
On March 23, local time, Stability AI, a unicorn AI company with a valuation of more than $4 billion, said that CEO Emad Mostaque resigned as CEO and board of directors to pursue decentralized AI.
Stability AI因开发了文生图大模型Stable Diffusion而知名，创立于2020年底。
Stability AI公告
目前，Stability AI董事会已任命首席运营官 Shan Shan Wong 和首席技术官 Christian Laforte 一起担任临时联席CEO。
On the social media platform X, Emad Mostaque mentioned that the most important thing in AI is not the GPU, but coordination and governance. The development of artificial intelligence needs to move towards decentralization. Next, he will explore the development of decentralized AI.
Screenshot from social media platform X
The company has been in trouble, and according to Forbes, several key AI developers who worked on the company's Wensheng diagram model, Stable Diffusion, have left. Coupled with the resignation of the CEO, Stability has lost more than a dozen technical talents.
Screenshot from social media platform X
Many of those who left were key technical developers, with technicians Robin Rombach, Andreas Blattmann and Dominik Lorenz all creators of the early Stable Diffusion project:
- Robin Rombach, the leader of the research team, is one of the core research members of the Stable Diffusion paper and the Wensheng Diagram Project.
- Andreas Blattmann, co-author of Stable Diffusion, is a key researcher in the Wensheng Diagram Project.
- Dominik Lorenz is also a member of the research team for the Stable Diffusion project.
- David Ha, head of research, has been with Stability AI for less than a year. He had many years of experience working in Google's BrAIn division before leaving shortly after joining Stability AI.
- Ren Ito, who was previously the COO, has been with Stability AI for about 6 months.
In addition to the turmoil in its members, Stability AI is facing a bigger cash flow crisis.
The company's financing has also not been going well. Stability AI's most recent funding round took place in October 2022 with a funding round of $101 million, when it was valued at $1 billion. In 2023, the company was revealed to be seeking its next round of funding at a valuation of $4 billion. But it doesn't seem to be going well, and there has been no news of new financing.
At the revenue level, Stability AI 2023 achieved growth of $44.2 million, a tenfold increase from $4.2 million in 2022. However, in the face of high computing power investment and labor costs, it is still unable to make ends meet.
In a report by Bloomberg in November 2023, it was mentioned that Stability AI costs more than $8 million per month, equivalent to more than 50 million yuan. It is equivalent to spending the entire year of 2023 revenue in just 5 days.
To add insult to injury, the company is also facing copyright lawsuits, with photography agency Getty Images publicly stating that Stable Diffusion has stolen more than 12 million copyrighted photos and that they are seeking $150,000 in damages for each infringement, meaning that Stable Diffusion could have to pay $1.8 trillion.
内外挑战加剧，Stability AI如今正处于风雨飘摇之中。