In a surprising pivot from generating cat images and fantastical landscapes, Midjourney has unveiled its first hardware product: a full-body ultrasound scanner that promises to offer fast, safe, and high-fidelity imaging of the human body. Announced alongside plans for a San Francisco spa, the device marks the company's ambitious entry into the medical and wellness space.
Dubbed the Midjourney Scanner, the device uses a ring of thousands of transducers to send ultrasonic waves through the body as the person descends into a pool of water. The entire scan takes about 60 seconds, producing detailed 3D images of muscle, fat, bone, and organs. Midjourney CEO David Holz described the scanner as "in many ways superior to even MRI machines" due to its lack of radiation, powerful magnets, and logistical complexities.
From AI Image Generator to Medical Hardware
Midjourney first gained widespread attention in 2022 for its text-to-image AI model that allowed users to generate stunning, often surreal visuals from simple prompts. The company quickly became a household name in the generative AI boom, alongside rivals like OpenAI's DALL-E and Stability AI's Stable Diffusion. However, unlike many of its peers, Midjourney remained a small, independent startup with a strong community focus.
The decision to branch into medical hardware might seem jarring, but Holz has long hinted at ambitions beyond image generation. In interviews, he has spoken about using AI to understand the human body and improve health outcomes. The Midjourney Scanner is the first tangible result of that vision.
How the Scanner Works
The scanning process is designed to be immersive and even pleasant, resembling a spa experience rather than a clinical procedure. The person steps onto a platform that descends into a shallow pool filled with water, illuminated by a golden light. As they submerge, a circular array of underwater sensors—each acting like a dolphin using echolocation—emits ultrasonic waves from every angle. The waves ripple through the body and are recorded by the same sensors, which then feed into two petaflops of processing power to reconstruct a detailed 3D image.
Midjourney partnered with Butterfly Network, a company known for its portable, chip-based ultrasound devices. Each scanner uses 40 Butterfly Ultrasound-on-Chip imaging modules, a technology that miniaturizes traditional ultrasound transducers onto silicon chips. This enables the dense array needed for full-body imaging without the bulk and cost of conventional systems.
Planned Spa and Wellness Integration
The announcement of the scanner was accompanied by news of a Midjourney Spa in San Francisco's Union Square, set to open before the end of 2027. The spa will house 10 scanners and include additional wellness amenities such as a gym, saunas, and cold plunges. Visitors will enter a scanning room equipped with a hot tub, where they can be scanned while relaxing in warm water.
Holz envisions the spa as a place where people can regularly track changes in their bodies—how muscle mass shifts in response to diet and exercise, or how organs change over time. "I'm not the most measured man on Earth yet," he said during the reveal, "but maybe I want to have that daily measurable information."
Medical vs. Consumer Use
Midjourney Medical, the division behind the scanner, is initially focusing on "body composition maps" that do not require FDA clearance. These maps show the distribution and quality of muscle, fat, and bone, providing users with a detailed snapshot of their physical condition. However, the company has not ruled out future diagnostic applications, which would require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Holz acknowledged the regulatory hurdles, but expressed optimism about a potential future FDA class for "weird" devices that allow people to gather as much data as possible. He stressed that the library of scans created by users could be shared with doctors, AI health tools, or other services—though he emphasized that data privacy is a priority. Specific details about data policies are expected closer to launch.
Implications for Preventative Healthcare
The scanner's ability to quickly and safely image the entire body without radiation could make it a powerful tool for preventative health. Traditional MRI machines are expensive, slow, and require patients to remain still in a loud, confined space. CT scans involve ionizing radiation. Ultrasound, by contrast, is non-ionizing, relatively inexpensive, and portable—though full-body ultrasound has historically been impractical due to the limited field of view of conventional probes.
Midjourney's ring design overcomes that limitation by capturing multiple angles simultaneously. The company claims its AI algorithms, originally developed for image generation, help stitch the data into clean, interpretable images. The system can segment structures automatically, overlaying colorful AI maps onto black-and-white ultrasound scans to highlight different tissues.
Compute Resources and AI Synergy
One of the more intriguing aspects of the project is how it repurposes AI compute power. Midjourney operates one of the largest GPU clusters in the world for training and running its image models. Holz noted that the same computational resources can be used to process ultrasound data, turning what might otherwise be idle hardware into a revenue-generating asset.
This synergy between generative AI and medical imaging could become a model for other companies. As AI startups face pressure to monetize their vast compute infrastructure, diversifying into areas like health diagnostics offers a way to spread costs and create new value. Midjourney is not alone in this trend—other firms have explored using AI for drug discovery, protein folding, and even surgical robotics.
Early Reactions and Challenges
So far, about a dozen people have been scanned with the prototype. The early results have not been publicly released, but Holz expressed confidence in the image quality. Critics have pointed out that ultrasound cannot match the soft-tissue contrast of MRI for certain conditions, and that the scanner's effectiveness for diagnostic purposes remains unproven.
Moreover, the cost of a scan has not been announced. Building a spa with 10 units and the associated facilities will require significant investment. Midjourney has historically been frugal, but this hardware venture signals a willingness to spend big on a long-term bet. Whether the spa model—where scanning is bundled with relaxation—will attract a mass audience is an open question.
The Broader Context of AI Hardware
Midjourney is far from the first AI company to move into hardware. OpenAI explored robotics, and Meta has invested in AR/VR headsets. But the scanner is a particularly bold move because it requires expertise in medical devices, regulatory compliance, and construction—none of which are core to Midjourney's existing capabilities. The partnership with Butterfly Network mitigates some risk, but the company is still venturing into uncharted territory.
Holz seems aware of the skepticism. During the livestreamed reveal, he joked about the jump from "cat pictures to full-body scans," but defended the move as a natural extension of the company's mission to "increase the imaginative capacity of humanity." By helping people see inside themselves, he argued, Midjourney could enable a deeper understanding of health and well-being.
As the project moves toward its 2027 spa opening, the tech and medical communities will be watching closely. If successful, the Midjourney Scanner could redefine how we think about health monitoring—turning it from a reactive, hospital-based process into a regular, spa-like ritual. For now, the company is focused on scanning hands at launch events and fine-tuning the experience. The future of full-body imaging may soon be as simple as stepping into a pool of light.
Source: The Verge News