Black Forest Labs – FLUX.1 open weights SOTA text to image model

Black Forest Labs has officially launched, focusing on the development of advanced generative deep learning models for media, particularly in text-to-image synthesis. The organization aims to make generative AI accessible to a broad audience, enhancing public education and trust in these technologies. The team comprises experienced AI researchers and engineers known for their contributions to foundational generative models, including VQGAN and Stable Diffusion. They have successfully closed a Series Seed funding round of $31 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from notable angel investors and follow-up investments from General Catalyst and MätchVC.

The newly released FLUX.1 suite includes three model variants: FLUX.1 [pro], FLUX.1 [dev], and FLUX.1 [schnell]. FLUX.1 [pro] offers top-tier performance for commercial applications, while FLUX.1 [dev] is an open-weight model for non-commercial use. FLUX.1 [schnell] is designed for local development and personal use, available under an Apache2.0 license. All models utilize a hybrid architecture with 12 billion parameters, improving performance and efficiency through innovative training methods.

FLUX.1 models set new benchmarks in image synthesis, outperforming competitors like Midjourney and DALL·E in various aspects, including visual quality and output diversity. The company plans to expand its offerings to include generative text-to-video systems in the future. Black Forest Labs is also actively hiring machine learning and backend engineers.