Stability AI

Stability AI

Open-source generative AI models for media

Overview

Stability AI develops open-source generative AI models for creating images, video, audio, and 3D assets. Its flagship model, Stable Diffusion, generates images from text by using a latent diffusion process and can run on consumer hardware because the model weights are publicly released. It also offers Stable Video, Stable Audio, and Stable Fast 3D, plus DreamStudio, an API-based service with a free Community License for individuals and small teams and paid licenses for larger customers. Its goal is to widen access to AI creation tools and support developers and enterprises in building multimodal AI applications.

About Stability AI

Simplify's Rating
Why Stability AI is rated
B-
Rated B on Competitive Edge
Rated B on Growth Potential
Rated C on Differentiation

Industries

Data & Analytics

Consulting

Enterprise Software

AI & Machine Learning

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Early VC

Total Funding

$231M

Headquarters

London, United Kingdom

Founded

2019

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • August 7, 2026 open-source video segmentation drew plugin integrations within 48 hours.
  • May 2026 Stable Audio 3.0 and 2.5 won WPP, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group.
  • Brand Studio launched April 8, 2026, targeting enterprise marketing teams with paid workflows.

What critics are saying

  • Getty's N.D. Cal. case continues after April 23, 2026 trademark claims survived dismissal.
  • One adverse copyright judgment could freeze Stable Diffusion licensing and cripple future model releases.
  • Headcount fell from 309 in 2023 to 267 in 2026, signaling persistent shrinkage.

What makes Stability AI unique

  • Stability AI ships open-weight models across image, video, audio, and 3D in 2026.
  • Brand Studio routes Stability and third-party models for brand-consistent enterprise creative workflows.
  • Stable Audio 2.5 and August 2026 segmentation stay open or licensed, unlike closed rivals.

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Funding

Total Funding

$231M

Above

Industry Average

Funded Over

3 Rounds

Early VC funding comparison data is currently unavailable. We're working to provide this information soon!
Early VC Funding Comparison
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Benefits

Stock Options

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

1%

2 year growth

-1%
Robotic Content
Aug 19th, 2026
When AI art has no author: Study finds generated images often can't be traced to training data.

When AI art has no author: Study finds generated images often can't be traced to training data. When an artificial intelligence image generator produces a portrait, whose work went into it? The question sits at the center of lawsuits, licensing deals and proposed regulations worldwide. Artists want credit. Companies want clarity. Policymakers want a way to assign responsibility. Stability AI, the UK's leading generative AI firm and a British AI unicorn headquartered in London, is pleased to contribute to the upcoming AI Safety Summit hosted by the UK Government at Bletchley Park.Emad Mostaque, founder and CEO of Stability AI, and Ben Brooks, Head of Public Policy at Stability... October 28, 2023 In "Image" submitted by /u/vitorgrs [link] [comments] June 23, 2023 In "Image" Robotic Content has all been witnessing the transformative power of generative artificial intelligence (AI), with the promise to reshape all aspects of human society and commerce while companies simultaneously grapple with acute business imperatives. In 2024, companies confront significant disruption, requiring them to redefine labor productivity to prevent unrealized revenue, safeguard... March 5, 2024 In "FAANG"

Daily Shot Group
Aug 17th, 2026
Stability AI's new open-source video background segmentation model: what it means for developers (August 2026).

Stability AI's new open-source video background segmentation model: what it means for developers (August 2026). Stability AI releases open-source video background segmentation model: August 2026. Stability AI has released a new open-source video background segmentation model, making the code and weights freely available under a permissive Apache 2.0 license as of August 7, 2026. The company claims the model delivers state-of-the-art accuracy and speed on consumer-grade GPUs, and within 48 hours, plugin developers have already begun integrating it into video conferencing and streaming tools. This move marks the first time a major AI lab has open-sourced a high-performing video background segmentation model on this scale, setting up a direct challenge to closed offerings from OpenAI and Google. Why Stability AI's video background segmentation model release matters. Video background segmentation - the ability to separate people from their environments in real time - has become foundational for remote work, live streaming, and digital content creation. But until now, the best-performing models have been proprietary, requiring developers to rely on closed APIs or expensive licenses. This dynamic has frustrated indie developers, privacy-conscious teams, and companies outside the US and EU facing data residency concerns. Stability AI's decision to open-source its model is a direct response to these pain points. In the company's official announcement, CTO Emad Mostaque stated: "Access to world-class segmentation shouldn't be locked behind paywalls. By releasing this model, we're aiming to democratize high-quality video tools for everyone." The model leverages a hybrid transformer-convolutional architecture trained on 40 million annotated video frames - from public datasets and Stability's own synthetic data pipeline. Its key features include: * Real-time performance: 30fps+ on a mid-range Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, 15fps on Apple M3 silicon * Precision: Average Intersection-over-Union (IoU) of 94.7% on the DAVIS and YouTube-VOS 2026 test sets * Hair and edge fidelity: Multi-scale attention layers for improved segmentation of fine details (see related hair segmentation analysis) * Flexible licensing: Apache 2.0, allowing commercial use and modification For a technical deep dive on the science behind these models, see its pillar guide to neural network-based video background segmentation. Competitive and market implications: A turning point for developers? The immediate reaction from the developer community has been enthusiastic - if not impatient. Within hours of release, multiple open-source plugins on GitHub announced beta support for the new model, including "OBS Studio AI Background" and "ZoomAI Enhancer." According to plugin developer Lina Chen, "Stability's model finally gives us a free, fast, and accurate core. We're already seeing better results on hair and moving objects than with our old OpenAI API wrapper." Benchmark data backs up the excitement. In side-by-side tests published by independent ML engineer Tomás Varga, the Stability AI video background segmentation model outperformed Google's VideoSeg API (closed, $0.10/minute) by 2.3% IoU and ran 40% faster on consumer hardware. Compared to OpenAI's August 2026 update (full analysis here), Stability's model proved more robust to rapid lighting changes and complex backgrounds. The open-source nature of Stability's release could drive several key shifts: * Innovation acceleration: Developers are free to inspect, adapt, and optimize the model for niche use-cases - such as AR filters, privacy overlays, or background replacement for non-English markets. * Lower costs: Teams can now run segmentation on their own infrastructure, avoiding usage-based API fees that previously added up to thousands of dollars per month for scale. * Privacy and compliance: Full model transparency and on-prem deployment address regulatory concerns in health, education, and government sectors. However, some experts urge caution. Dr. Ananya Rao, a computer vision researcher at ETH Zurich, notes: "Open-sourcing raises the bar for everyone, but maintaining performance across real-world conditions - like dramatic camera moves or fast group scenes - still requires deep engineering. Teams should validate on their specific data before full rollout." For more on the technical challenges of AI video background segmentation, see this troubleshooting guide on blurry and flickering issues. For the proprietary incumbents, the pressure is now on. Google and OpenAI may be forced to cut prices, accelerate their own open-source plans, or compete on value-added tooling and integrations. The real winners, at least in the short term, are developers and organizations who can now experiment without friction or lock-in. Publicidade What to watch next: timelines and upcoming milestones. The pace of adoption will be the key metric to watch. Stability AI has already confirmed that it is collaborating with the Video.js and Jitsi Meet open-source teams for native plugin integration "by end of Q3 2026." Expect to see the first production-ready plugins leveraging this model in mainstream video apps before October. Other milestones to track: * Community benchmarking: The model has been submitted to the 2026 DAVIS Challenge, with results expected later this month. * Edge and mobile variants: Stability AI's roadmap includes a quantized, mobile-optimized version slated for public release in September 2026. * Open-source adoption metrics: GitHub forks, PyPI downloads, and plugin ecosystem growth will signal real-world impact beyond hype. * Competitive open-source moves: All eyes are on whether Google or Meta will respond with their own open models by year's end. For teams building AI video background applications or researching segmentation, this new release fundamentally shifts the landscape. The combination of transparency, speed, and licensing flexibility will lower barriers for experimentation - and likely raise user expectations for quality, privacy, and control. As the dust settles, the ultimate test will be how well Stability's model performs in the wild - across the edge cases and edge devices that define real user experience. The arms race in AI video backgrounds just got a powerful new open-source contender, and the next few months will show whether the ecosystem rises to meet it. Master AI with its complete guide collection 8 guides, 375+ prompts, instant download. Save 41% with the All-Access Bundle. Senior AI Reporter Senior AI Reporter covering product launches, funding rounds, and industry moves.

Hitman Tech
Jul 23rd, 2026
ElevenLabs Music v2 signals the next phase of commercial AI audio.

ElevenLabs Music v2 signals the next phase of commercial AI audio. ElevenLabs' Music v2 is another sign that generative audio is moving out of the novelty phase and into the operating layer of modern content production. The new model can shift styles inside a single track, moving between dramatically different genres while maintaining musical continuity. It is also designed to handle more demanding vocal performances, richer arrangements, and more precise editing than early AI music tools. For business leaders, the practical question is no longer whether AI can generate sound, but how quickly these systems can become dependable creative infrastructure. The most important capability is control. Earlier music-generation tools often produced interesting fragments, but they were difficult to revise without starting over. Music v2 introduces a workflow where users can regenerate a selected part of a song through prompts while preserving the surrounding material. That matters for operators because real creative production is iterative, and teams need tools that support revisions, approvals, localization, and campaign-specific adjustments without breaking the whole asset. Section-based creation also changes the value proposition. Instead of generating a brief clip and hoping it fits, users can build music in components such as intros, verses, choruses, transitions, and outros. That structure maps more naturally to how marketing, media, and brand teams already work. It also opens the door for more modular audio systems, where a brand can maintain a consistent sonic identity while adapting mood, tempo, language, or format across channels. The competitive context is equally important. Google, Stability AI, Suno, and other AI labs are racing to release models capable of longer, more complex, and more editable tracks. Google has already been pushing toward cover generation, sectional song editing, and music video creation through its creative tooling. This is becoming a platform race, not a feature race, and the winners will likely be the companies that combine generation quality with rights management, workflow integration, and predictable enterprise controls. ElevenLabs is leaning hard into the commercial-use angle, and that may be the most strategic part of the announcement. The company says Music v2 is built on licensed data and cleared for commercial use, which directly addresses one of the biggest adoption blockers in AI music. Copyright uncertainty has already created legal pressure around other AI music startups, and enterprise buyers are unlikely to standardize on tools that create avoidable rights exposure. In procurement terms, licensing clarity is not a footnote; it is the difference between a fun experiment and a deployable business system. For marketing and branding teams, the near-term use cases are straightforward. AI music can support campaign variants, social edits, product videos, podcast beds, internal training content, event assets, and rapid localization. The ability to add sound effects and shift genres mid-track also gives teams more flexibility when matching creative direction to audience segments or emotional beats. The strongest implementations will not replace creative judgment; they will compress the time between concept, revision, and usable asset. There are still risks to manage. Brands need clear policies on what can be generated, who approves final audio, how rights documentation is stored, and when human composers or agencies should remain in the loop. Teams should also test whether generated music aligns with brand standards, accessibility expectations, cultural context, and platform requirements. The companies that get value fastest will be the ones that treat AI audio as a governed workflow, not an unchecked content shortcut. The broader takeaway is that generative media is becoming more granular, editable, and operationally useful. Music v2 points toward a future where audio assets can be assembled, revised, localized, and deployed with the same agility that teams now expect from text and image tools. For decision-makers, now is the time to assess where AI audio can remove production bottlenecks while preserving quality, compliance, and brand trust. Hitman Technologies helps organizations evaluate these emerging systems, design practical adoption paths, and turn fast-moving AI capabilities into durable business advantage.

79M Plus
Jul 11th, 2026
Japan's Sakana Fugu just beat Claude Mythos and nobody saw it coming.

Japan's Sakana Fugu just beat Claude Mythos and nobody saw it coming. In the fast-moving world of AI, 79mplus Editor is used to the heavyweight title bouts happening in Silicon Valley. But while everyone was distracted by the latest from San Francisco, a Tokyo-based startup called Sakana AI just pulled off a stunning upset that has the industry reeling. They've launched a system called Fugu, and according to recent benchmarks, its "Ultra" version isn't just competing with the best - it's actively outperforming Anthropic's most powerful (and recently restricted) models, Claude Fable 5 and Mythos. Table of Contents The stealth rise of Sakana AI. Sakana AI isn't your typical underdog. Founded in 2023, it's led by Llion Jones, a co-author of the foundational Google paper "Attention Is All You Need," and David Ha, the former head of research at Stability AI. The name Sakana means "fish" in Japanese, and their logo - a school of small fish forming one large fish - is the perfect metaphor for their breakthrough. How Fugu did the impossible. What makes Fugu so disruptive is that it isn't a single, massive Large Language Model (LLM) in the traditional sense. Instead, it is a multi-agent orchestration system. Think of it like a conductor leading a world-class orchestra. The Fugu system uses a "manager" model trained specifically to break down complex tasks and delegate them to a pool of specialists. It might send a coding task to GPT, a writing task to Claude, and a research task to Gemini, then synthesize the results into one perfect answer. Because it can orchestrate these models dynamically, it achieves "frontier capability" without the same export controls that have recently hampered US-based models. The benchmarks: beating the "unbeatable" The numbers coming out of Sakana's labs are hard to ignore. On LiveCodeBench, which tests regularly refreshed software problem-solving tasks, Fugu Ultra scored 93.2, edging out Claude Fable's 89.8. Even more impressive was its performance on GPQA-D, a rigorous test involving 198 graduate-level science questions in physics, biology, and chemistry. Fugu Ultra scored 95.5, surpassing the Claude Mythos Preview score of 94.6. This is particularly significant because Fable 5 and Mythos were recently rolled back by Anthropic following US government national security concerns. Sakana has essentially stepped into the vacuum left by these restricted models. The reality check: is it too good to be true? While the benchmarks are historic, real-world "battle testing" reveals some significant trade-offs. Independent testers have noted that because Fugu is orchestrating multiple high-end models, it comes with a "tax" on both time and money. * Speed: In head-to-head tests against Claude Opus 4.8, Fugu was roughly 4.5 times slower. * Cost: Because it calls multiple APIs to solve a single problem, it can be 5 times more expensive than using a single frontier model. * Intelligence: Critics argue that Fugu is more of a "smart harness" than a new form of raw intelligence. Since it relies on other models like GPT-5.5 or Opus 4.8 for its "thinking," its power is fundamentally tied to the availability of those underlying systems. Why this matters. Regardless of the current costs, Sakana AI has proven that orchestration might be the new frontier. By focusing on how models work together rather than just building one giant "god-model," they've found a way to squeeze superior performance out of existing tech. Japan just showed the world that you don't need to build the biggest model to win the benchmark war - you just need to be the best at managing them. As the AI landscape becomes more fragmented with various providers and export restrictions, the ability to optimize across "all the worlds" of AI will become a vital skill. Nobody saw Japan coming for the crown, but with Fugu Ultra, Sakana AI has officially put the world on notice.

Logicity
Jun 22nd, 2026
Getty Images signs deal to show photos in ChatGPT results.

Getty Images signs deal to show photos in ChatGPT results. Key takeaways. * Getty Images will provide licensed content to ChatGPT and OpenAI search results * The partnership reverses Getty's previous adversarial stance toward AI companies * Getty has not disclosed whether images can be used for AI training Getty Images has signed a multi-year deal with OpenAI to license its photo and video library for display in ChatGPT and OpenAI's search tools. The partnership marks a significant reversal for a company that spent years fighting AI firms in court. "High-quality, licensed visual content makes AI-powered search and discovery more useful and more trustworthy," Getty CEO Craig Peters said in a statement. "This partnership with OpenAI reflects a shared recognition of that, and together we will deliver richer visual experiences to ChatGPT users." The announcement comes less than a year after Getty signed a similar agreement with Perplexity AI. That deal included a requirement for Perplexity to display image credits with links to the source, addressing concerns about how AI tools attribute licensed content. How did Getty go from suing AI companies to partnering with them? Getty's relationship with AI has been complicated. In September 2022, the company banned all AI-generated art from its library. A few months later, Getty sued Stability AI, alleging the image generator had committed copyright violations by training on Getty's photos without permission. The court rejected that argument late last year. The legal defeat appears to have shifted Getty's strategy. Rather than continue fighting in court, the company pivoted to licensing. In 2023, Getty launched its own generative AI tool, trained exclusively on its library and powered by NVIDIA's Edify model. Every image the tool produces comes with a royalty-free license. The Perplexity deal in October 2025 signaled that Getty was open to working with AI search tools. The OpenAI partnership extends that approach to ChatGPT's massive user base. What does this mean for ChatGPT users? ChatGPT users should see Getty's licensed images appearing in search results and conversations. The change addresses a persistent problem with AI tools: when they surface images, the licensing and attribution are often unclear or nonexistent. Getty's library includes over 500 million photos, illustrations, and videos distributed in more than 160 countries. The deal should reduce OpenAI's legal exposure. AI companies have faced waves of copyright lawsuits from content creators, and licensing agreements offer a straightforward defense. Will Getty's images be used to train OpenAI's models? Getty has not disclosed whether the OpenAI deal allows images to be used for AI training. The Perplexity agreement explicitly prohibited training on Getty content. If the OpenAI deal follows the same structure, the images would only be displayed in results, not fed into model development. This distinction matters. Training on copyrighted images was the core allegation in Getty's lawsuit against Stability AI. If Getty is now allowing training, it would represent a complete abandonment of its earlier legal position. If training remains off-limits, the deal is purely about distribution rights. Neither Getty nor OpenAI has clarified this point publicly. The broader pattern: litigation to licensing. Getty's shift mirrors a trend across the content industry. News publishers, record labels, and image libraries initially responded to AI with lawsuits. Many are now signing licensing deals instead. The calculus is simple: courts have been skeptical of copyright claims against AI training, and licensing generates revenue. Perplexity has faced its own lawsuits over alleged illegal use of copyrighted materials. The Getty partnership included requirements around image attribution, which suggests content owners can negotiate specific protections even outside of court. OpenAI has been aggressive about signing content deals. The Getty agreement adds visual content to a portfolio that already includes partnerships with news organizations. For AI companies, these deals provide legal cover and better content. For content owners, they provide revenue from technology that's using their work regardless. Frequently asked questions. Getty images will appear in ChatGPT and OpenAI search results where relevant. The exact implementation depends on how OpenAI integrates the licensed content into its tools. Can OpenAI train its models on Getty's photos? Getty has not disclosed whether the deal allows AI training. The company's similar deal with Perplexity explicitly prohibits training on Getty content. Why did Getty stop fighting AI companies in court? A court rejected Getty's copyright claims against Stability AI late last year. The legal defeat appears to have prompted a shift toward licensing deals instead of litigation. How many images does Getty have? Getty's library includes over 500 million photos, illustrations, and videos distributed across more than 160 countries. Logicity's take. Getty's pivot from plaintiff to partner says more about the courts than about AI ethics. When judges signaled they wouldn't treat AI training as copyright infringement, content owners lost their leverage. Licensing deals are the fallback. The real question is price: are these agreements worth what Getty would have won in a successful lawsuit, or is the company settling for pennies to avoid getting nothing? Until the financial terms leak, Logicity Pvt Ltd won't know whether this is a win or a capitulation. Need help implementing this? If your company is navigating AI content licensing or building products that integrate licensed media, its team can connect you with specialists in AI copyright law and content partnerships. Contact Logicity Pvt Ltd at [email protected]. المقال الجديد يتضمن معلومة مهمة جديدة: ارتفاع سهم Getty Images بنسبة 200% في تداولات ما قبل افتتاح السوق بعد الإعلان عن الصفقة، بعد أن كان قد انخفض بنسبة 55% في وقت سابق من هذا العام. كما يشير إلى أن الشركة لا تزال تنتظر الموافقة على صفقة الاستحواذ على Shutterstock بقيمة 3.7 مليار دولار. Manaal Khan Tech & Innovation Writer

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