WPP buys into AI with StabilityAI investment
Global advertising giant WPP has invested in technology pioneer StabilityAI in a strategic move to get closer to the AI source.
The value of the deal has not been released, but WPP characterises it as a “partnership” that sits on top of its existing annual $610m spend on AI.
StabilityAI was founded in 2019, and gained an early lead in text-to-image generation with its open source Stable Diffusion engine, released in 2022.
Stable Diffusion allowed anyone to generate high-quality images with surreal subjects. Examples include “a photo of an astronaut riding a horse on mars,” and “dog in a suit” (see below).
Early Stable Diffusion outputs
An investment round immediately after the release of Stable Diffusion valued StabilityAI at US$1b (A$1.6b).
WPP said it would use StabilityAI tech to assist with audio, image and video creation. StabilityAI would receive “real-world applications and market insights”.
In a statement, WPP chief technology officer Stephan Pretorius said:
“This collaboration is unique in its focus on the visual media industry, and we are inspired by the Stability AI team’s vision for the role of generative AI in entertainment and how it can augment the creative process.”
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