Stable AI, known for its image generation platform Stable Diffusion, will now be led by Prem Akaraju as its new CEO, according to a Monday report from Information. Akaraju is the former CEO of visual effects company Weta Digital.
Imad Mostaque, founder and chief executive officer of Stability AI, resigned in March to focus on his new startup Shelling AI. Chief Operating Officer Shan Shan Wong and Chief Technology Officer Christian Laforte have been leading the company on an interim basis.
This leadership change is part of a broader restructuring effort that comes amid financial struggles, controversial software releases and intensifying competition in the AI industry.
Akaraju is stepping into his new role at a critical time for stable AI. In the year The company, which is valued at $1 billion by 2022, has been struggling with mounting debt, according to Bloomberg. The company generated less than $5 million in revenue in Q1 2024 and posted a loss of more than $30 million in the same quarter, according to Reuters.
CNBC separately reported in April that Stability had laid off 10% of its workforce to cut costs.
In addition to the layoffs, several key people have left the company in recent months, including Robin Rombach, one of Stable Diffusion's original developers, and former CTO Tom Mason. Other notable departures include Joe Pena, who was actively involved in the development of SDXL, and Alex Goodwin, with his pseudonymous partner “ComfyAnonymous” – to launch Comfy.org to focus ComfyUI on broader generative AI developments. Interface.
Stable AI has faced challenges with its latest image generation model, the recently launched SD3.
The company introduced a new licensing model alongside SD3, aiming to generate additional revenue from commercial users of the software. The new license requires users to pay a recurring fee for a “creator license” if they generate more than 6,000 images per month, profit from the model and apply for an enterprise license.
This new licensing model departs from the company's previous open source approach and has met with strong opposition from the AI community. Citing legal issues, the world's largest Stable Diffusion repository, CivitAI has permanently banned SD3 content.
In addition to limiting the reach and potential of SD3, the ban also damaged the reputation of Stability AI in the AI community. The new model's poor understanding of the human anatomy did not help.
In addition to the appointment of Akkaraju as CEO, the company said that it received a “guarantee” from a group of investors, described as a “recoupment” that could affect the value of Stability AI. Among the investors is Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and the first president of Facebook, who will chair the board of Calm AI, the newspaper reported.
Stability AI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Decrypt.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
Generally intelligent newspaper
A weekly AI journey narrated by a generative AI model.
