Black Forest Labs, the Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup behind the image generation component of xAI's Grok assistant, has done this began an API in beta – and released a brand new model.
The recent API provides Black Forest Labs' Flux family of image generation models in a managed package. This allows developers to decide on which Flux model they need to integrate into their app or service. Add-ons include a content moderation layer and image resolution restrictions.
Prices start at 2.5 credits per image; 100 credits is $1. Flux1.1 Pro costs 4 credits per image.
Black Forest Labs also today introduced its latest imaging model, Flux1.1 Pro, which is alleged to supply six times faster imaging than its predecessor, Flux.1 Pro. The model can scale as much as 2K images (2048 × 1080) – a feature that can soon be integrated into the API – “while improving image quality, rapid compliance and variety,” Black Forest says in a blog post Labs.
In addition to Black Forest Labs' own platform, Flux1.1 Pro is accessible through the startup's partners, including Together AI, Replicate, Fal.AI, and Freepik.
Black Forest Labs, which relies in Germany and recently got here out of obscurity with $31 million in funding, was co-founded by the engineers who developed the technology behind Stability AI, including Andreas Blattmann, Patrick Esser, Dominik Lorenz and CEO Robin Rombach.
The startup became the topic of controversy after it struck a take care of xAI to integrate Flux into Grok without safety guardrails, resulting in a flood of outrageous – and gruesome – images. Black Forest Labs didn’t disclose what data it used to coach Flux, but somewhat the pictures on xAI suggest that copyrighted works made their way into the training set, which – if the rights holders resolve to sue – could change into a liability.
Black Forest Labs, whose other backers include Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan and former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, is developing video generation models and is anticipated to boost $100 million at a $1 billion valuation. That's a major increase from the previous valuation of $150 million.
The API is undoubtedly a crucial a part of this. Training and running models is pricey, and investors generally need to see returns – or not less than a plan for returns.
API or not, given the formidable and growing competition, it's sure to be an uphill climb to media creation supremacy for Black Forest Labs – if that's indeed the goal. Ideogram, Pika, Luma, Runway, Stability and Midjourney are only a couple of of the players on this space, not to say established corporations like OpenAI and Google.
