AI startup Midjourney has entered health tech with a full-body ultrasound scanner unveiled as the first project from its new medical division.
The company announced its first hardware project at an event in San Francisco, outlining a move into the personal health and medical industries.
Chief executive David Holz described the device, called the Midjourney Scanner, as a “full-body ultrasound machine”.
Ultrasound uses sound waves to produce images of structures inside the body. Holz claimed the technology was superior in numerous ways to magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, which uses magnets and radio waves to create internal images.
“No such device has ever been built until now,” he said.
Holz said the company aims to build 50,000 scanners but declined to reveal how much the product would cost.
“Our goal is to build a fleet of 50,000 of these scanners,” Holz said.
“We’re not even using any AI in this yet, just really cool hardware and software.”
The machines will require users to be partially submerged in water and are expected to debut at locations called Midjourney Spa.
The first is planned for a 25,000 sq ft site in San Francisco featuring hot tubs, saunas, cold plunges, a gym and other amenities.
“We’ve signed a lease and we already have the designs,” Holz said.
The device is one of eight projects currently being developed by Midjourney, split between four hardware and four software initiatives.
Holz said the company aims to ship at least two of the hardware projects in the near term.
Addressing potential hurdles in meeting Food and Drug Administration requirements, Holz said “one of the goals is to do all things that are easy”.
He said the company would then seek successive approvals “until this thing can do thousands of types of diagnoses”.
“Over a 10-year period, these things are not just imaging devices: They’re probably therapeutic as well,” Holz said.
Before Wednesday’s business shift, Midjourney was primarily known as a subscription-based generative AI service that allows customers to create images and video clips.
Subscriptions range from US$10 to US$120 per month.
The startup has faced legal challenges from content owners including Warner Bros. Discovery and Walt Disney over alleged intellectual property theft.
The entertainment companies claim their well-known characters have appeared in images and videos generated using Midjourney.
