Another Image AI Application Goes Viral, Team of Just Two Attracts 400,000 Users in a Single Month
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Another AI-native application has gained popularity. Recently, the AI image enhancement app Magnific AI has been widely acclaimed, attracting 400,000 registered users just over a month after its release.
Magnific AI not only uses generative AI technology to enlarge images but also enhances image resolution with a single click, making the original images clearer and more textured. Even Elon Musk has praised this app on social media.
In the era of large models, new AI creation workflows are gradually taking shape. Many users are leveraging Midjourney + Magnific AI + Runway for AI-assisted video creation.
Magnific AI originates from Spain, with a team consisting of only two founders: CEO Javi López and CTO Emilio Nicolás. Currently, the majority of its users are from overseas, with only 5% coming from Spain.
Magnific AI was an unexpected passion project for López and Nicolás. After OpenAI released Dall-E 2 in 2022, Lopez began focusing on generative AI and built an AI interest community in his spare time. In 2023, Lopez and Nicholas conceived the idea, and by October, they officially started working on it, completing the first-generation product of Magnific AI within a month.
Lopez revealed that Magnific AI uses the open-source Stable Diffusion model. They discovered that modifying parameters and source code could bring surprising new features to the product.
In terms of usage, like many AI tools, Magnific AI requires users to input natural language prompts to describe the desired image effects.
One-click enhancement of blurry images to high-definition versions is a basic feature.
Magnific AI can instantly improve image quality.
Magnific AI can also upgrade emojis to 3D portraits. Unlike AIGC tools like Pika and Midjourney, Magnific AI's prompts can be macro descriptions or include specific instructions for image motion, such as zooming in or out on a particular part.
Magnific AI features Beyond prompts, the Magnific AI tool interface includes adjustable parameters for Creativity, HDR, Resemblance (similarity to reference), and Fractality (direction of movement) to ensure the clarity and content consistency of generated images.
Magnific AI product interface
The Creativity value affects AI hallucinations, influencing the presentation of image details. HDR refers to the clarity and detail level of the image. The Resemblance value impacts how closely the generated image matches the reference—increasing this value makes the AI-generated image more faithful to the original.
One user used the prompt: "Robot portrait, futuristic, gray, black, yellow," to magnify the tiny camera on the robot's head, generating the left image with detailed lens equipment.
The left image shows the camera device generated by magnifying the robot on the right.
Another user combined Midjourney-generated images with Magnific AI's enhancement capabilities to create a short film titled "The Eye-Opening Journey: From See to Sea."
Short film "The Eye-Opening Journey: From See to Sea" Currently, Magnific AI claims to be able to upscale and enhance any image to 10000x10000 pixels, surpassing ultra-HD 4K quality and achieving 10K ultra-HD effects.
Magnific's user base includes not only professionals in photography, graphic design, digital art, and illustration but also many AI artists and creators.
Magnific founder Lopez revealed that the technology has already been used in a film featuring "super famous actors and directors." Meanwhile, the company is gradually applying Magnific AI to videos and video games.
The era of generative AI is revolutionizing traditional creative workflows and tool usage habits. Through various experiences with Magnific AI, we can see the emergence of a new toolset based on combinations of different AI tools.
Currently, many users are combining Magnific AI with other AI tools like Midjourney and Runway to directly produce videos and renderings. These tool combinations significantly lower the barrier to creation for users. Businesses can also use these tools to improve efficiency in marketing and advertising production.
Some users have generated videos with Runway and enhanced images with Magnific, creating the following virtual Tesla experience short film. A virtual Tesla experience short film generated using Runway and Magnific.
In terms of business development, in an interview, Lopez mentioned that Magnific AI aims to adhere to three principles: "zero equipment, zero investment, and no free product giveaways": "We want the project to remain zero investment for as long as possible. Large teams can be exhausting; we prefer working with computers equipped with GPT-4."
Currently, Magnific AI has not sought funding and primarily relies on revenue to sustain its operations.
Magnific AI offers two pricing models: monthly and annual subscriptions. The monthly fee is even more expensive than GPT-4, starting at 280 yuan per month. On its official website, Magnific AI specifically emphasizes: Due to the high costs associated with AI-driven upgrades and the fact that upstream providers do not allow GPU refunds, the company cannot offer refunds for its products.
Magnific AI Pricing Model
"A few years ago, it would have been impossible for just two people to build such a product," Lopez once said. "AI allows you to move at the speed of light, and the world is so interconnected that anything can spread overnight." In the era of generative AI, an increasing number of popular products are being developed by extremely small teams. Magnific AI's team consists of just two people, the previously viral Pika team had only four members, and Midjourney operates with merely 11 individuals. Like the sudden rise of Magnific AI, with the assistance of AI, the product development capabilities of small teams are being amplified exponentially.
OpenAI founder Sam Altman once remarked: 'In conversations with tech industry executives, we once bet that a solo founder would soon build a $1 billion company. Without AI's assistance, this would be pure fantasy, but now it's gradually becoming reality.'
Lopez also firmly believes: 'Within the next decade, we'll see solo-founder or single-person startups generating $1 billion in revenue.'