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The global art community is in a state of excitement as programs for creating images from text descriptions entered the beta stages of development in early summer 2022.

Midjourney is an independent research lab exploring new mediums, a self-funded team focused on design, human infrastructure, and artificial intelligence.

By joining the beta from the website www.midjourney.com any user can experience visual art in a matter of seconds, simply by typing '/imagine' into an interface prompt and typing a textual description of what they want to be done, in what light, colors or style. They can also emulate the styles of great artists, even living ones.

It's easy to imagine a huge visual arts revolution on the horizon.

Realistic illustrators and concept artists see their work in play as portrait artists did in the early years of photography.

Magazines are already starting to use Midjourney's art for covers or article illustrations.

This August, an image by Midjourney called "Théâtre d'Opéra Spatial" won first place in the digital art contest at the 2022 Colorado State Fair. Jason Allen, who wrote the prompt that led Midjourney to generate the image, printed the image on a canvas and entered it into the contest. Other digital artists were shocked by the news.

If you told an ancient Egyptian scribe that one day everyone could be taught to write their own text freely, he would surely go mad at the thought of the end of his caste, and similar sentiments captured academic artists observing the freedom of the avant-garde movements in late 1800s Paris.

The game will change again and somewhere in the future everyone with the right imagination could be a da Vinci, and new abilities will be as valuable to the art as interface interactions.

We are scared and excited to see what is happening.