Generative AI company Stability AI says it's poised to accelerate development of its text-to-image products thanks to a fresh round of investments and a management shakeup.it has secured investors including venture capital outfits Greycroft and Coatue Management, plus former Facebook president Sean Parker and Prem Akkaraju, a past CEO of special effects house WETA Digital. Parker will serve as executive chairman and Akkaraju will become CEO.
Parker is quoted as saying the company will stick to its open-source principles and chase four marketsContent creation and production tools serving everyone from independent content creators to major studios; Powering B2C applications for generative art, creativity, graphic design, social software, and gaming.
Stability AI has not had a permanent CEO since its founder Emad Mostaque departed in March, reportedly due to investors' displeasure over the finances that were apparently so bad that itit was $80 million. The investors were also reportedly able to get Stability AI's suppliers to forgive $100 million in debt, plus a reduction in $300 million of planned future debt - primarily for cloud bills.
Stabilizing Stability AI will be a challenge for its new executives, as AI firms require lots of capital and – as is the case with many startups - struggle to turn a profit. In 2023, Stability AI reportedly expected revenue of just $11 million, but expected a $99 million bill for computing alone, plus $54 million for wages and other operating expenses.But the announcement doesn’t include product plans, or hints about how Stability AI will make money from its models.