Holz faces major copyright lawsuits from Disney and Universal (June 2025) and Warner Bros. Discovery (September 2025), alleging Midjourney "pirated entire libraries of their most iconic characters—Darth Vader, Elsa, the Minions—without permission." Holz addressed lawsuits in weekly user calls saying "I think Midjourney is going to be around for a very long time." In August 2025, Midjourney announced a technology licensing partnership with Meta, signaling industry acceptance despite legal challenges.
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David Holz
David Holz allegedly collected thousands of artists' names into a Google Sheet, disclosed on Midjourney's Discord in 2022, to train the AI to mimic specific artistic styles. This spreadsheet became evidence in the Andersen v. Stability AI class-action copyright lawsuit (4,700+ artists). In a 2022 AP interview, Holz described the training as "kind of like a search engine" pulling images from across the internet—"creative inspiration, rather than plagiarism." Holz has stated he was "unaware of legal issues when building the model."
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David Holz — AI Ethics: OPPOSED David Holz allegedly collected thousands of artists' names into a Google Sheet, disclosed on Midjourney's Discord in 2022, to train the AI to mimic specific artistic styles. Thi… https://reciepts.tech/stance/1846
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See all →Midjourney operates with approximately 60 employees and generated $300M in revenue in fiscal 2024 while remaining profitable without external funding. David Holz has rejected outside investment, maintaining independence. The lean team structure means no reported layoffs, but the business model relies on training AI on artists' work without compensation—effectively extracting value from creative workers who receive nothing. TIME named Holz to the 100 Most Influential People in AI 2025 list.