By Mathew in AI Model Developments — 26 Mar 2025

AI Image Generation Revolution: How Midjourney Is Transforming Creative Industries

In a wide-ranging and intellectually stimulating episode of The Tom Bilyeu Show Live, host Tom Bilyeu alongside co-hosts Drew and Ununice delved into several pressing topics spanning technological innovation, economic theory, and human psychology. From groundbreaking developments in AI image generation to deep dives on wealth inequality and philosophical questions about free will, the conversation offered valuable insights into how these forces are shaping our world.

Key Points

Midjourney's new image generation technology now offers unprecedented character consistency, allowing for more realistic and coherent visual storytelling
The democratization of AI tools is transforming creative industries by reducing costs and barriers to entry, particularly for comic artists and storytellers
The debate around AI and copyright centers on whether AI should be allowed to learn from existing works while ensuring original creators maintain ownership of their specific characters and brands
Money printing, not wealth inequality itself, is identified as the root cause of economic disparity, as it drives asset inflation that disproportionately benefits those who already own assets
Top-down economic control and wealth redistribution are criticized as ineffective solutions that fail to address the underlying systemic problems causing inequality
The podcast explores philosophical concepts like free will versus determinism, with Tom arguing that human behavior is ultimately determined by biological mechanisms
The discussion highlights how content creators like Mr. Beast reflect human psychology and our attraction to drama, competition, and spectacle

The AI Image Generation Revolution

The conversation began with Tom's excitement about recent breakthroughs in AI image generation technology, particularly Midjourney's ability to maintain character consistency. This development represents a quantum leap forward in creative possibilities.

"I am startled," Tom explained. "I gave it only 10 training images on one of our characters from Lisa's story that she's working on called Wish Academy. And it nailed it—style, consistency, everything. This was the first time I was like, 'That's in the style of our drawing...it looked like our version of Lexi. It was incredible."

This technological advancement has profound implications for creative industries, particularly comics and visual storytelling. Tom emphasized how this could democratize content creation:

"If you are a comic book artist, this is going to increase your output dramatically. If what you really love is having good taste and telling good stories, you're going to be absolutely gobsmacked because you no longer are limited by time and money."

The hosts discussed how the barrier to entry for creating high-quality visual content is rapidly disappearing. Tom estimated that what would previously cost thousands of dollars and take months could now be accomplished in a day by a single person with access to these AI tools.

AI and Copyright: Finding the Balance

The discussion then shifted to the ethical implications of AI training on existing creative works. Tom articulated a nuanced position on copyright and creative inspiration:

"If you want to build a bot that thinks like I think, that is trained on every word that I've ever said...go for it. You should be able to do that if I have made that stuff publicly available," Tom stated. "You should not, however, be able to make it look like me, just as I don't think you should be able to make it look like Mickey Mouse. But you should be able to do it in Disney style."

Tom distinguished between learning from styles and outright appropriation of specific characters or intellectual property. He argued that this distinction is crucial for the future of creative industries:

"Being able to learn from the way that the Shrek universe looks, you should absolutely be able to do that. However, you should not be able to say that this is a Studio Ghibli film. You shouldn't be able to use their characters like that."

The Mr. Beast Phenomenon: A Mirror to Human Psychology

In an unexpected turn, the conversation shifted to content creator Mr. Beast, with Ununice offering a critical perspective on his content style:

"I think he likes making content because of the money, not because of the content that he actually likes making," Ununice suggested. "They're always being held hostage. Why are you always kidnapping people?"

This sparked a fascinating analysis from Tom about what Mr. Beast's popularity reveals about human psychology:

"I see all of this and I don't think 'Oh Mr. Beast bad,' I think 'Ooh, humanity is fascinating and this is a really interesting glimpse into my own mind and certainly the minds of other people,'" Tom reflected. "Mr. Beast is a mirror to humanity, and I do not agree with watching those videos, which is why I do not watch him."

Unice provocatively described Mr. Beast as "a socially acceptable Jigsaw," referencing the antagonist from the Saw franchise, suggesting his content exploits people's willingness to do extreme things for money. Tom acknowledged this comparison but contextualized it as part of a broader human fascination with drama and spectacle.

Gary Economics and Wealth Inequality

A significant portion of the episode was dedicated to addressing economic theories proposed by a commentator referred to as "Gary Economics." Tom summarized Gary's position:

"Gary's economics thesis is that income equality is the whole problem, and you solve it by taxing the assets of the ultra-rich. That's literally it."

Tom articulated a fundamentally different perspective, arguing that wealth inequality is a symptom rather than the root cause of economic problems:

"Money printing is your problem. And if you don't address money printing, you're going to continue to have this massive distortion in the market," Tom emphasized. "The government already pulls in $6 trillion a year—four in taxes, two in money printing theft. You have an inefficient system already."

Tom illustrated his point using a metaphor of passing a red ball back and forth between the government and wealthy individuals, showing how simply redistributing wealth doesn't solve the underlying issues. He presented data showing the exponential growth of the money supply over recent decades:

"This is the amount of money in circulation...in the last five years we have printed like 60% of all the dollars that have ever existed over the last 250 years. And despite that, we have not solved our problems. So more money has not made problems go down."

Tom argued that inflation disproportionately affects those without assets, as it drives up asset prices faster than wages can keep pace:

"Asset prices are going up faster than wages are going up. And there lies part of the problem. So you're now making it where corporations are like, 'Oh, we can go outbid everybody and get a hold of these houses.' Yeah, it's no bueno."

The Free Will Debate

The conversation took a philosophical turn when discussing whether humans truly possess free will. Tom took a deterministic position:

"We are automata. There is no free will. That is my default belief," Tom stated firmly. "They can see in an fMRI that you're about to make a decision...up to three seconds before the person raises their hand, you can see in the brain 'Oh, they're going to do this.'"

Tom elaborated on his view that human behavior is fundamentally determined by biological mechanisms:

"Everything is downstream of the mechanisms of biology. Once you understand that you're downstream of the mechanisms of biology, you understand that you're downstream of mechanisms. Period. End of story. Will is like this magical thing that sits outside of biology, and I'm saying that thing doesn't exist."

Drew challenged this perspective, arguing that while biology creates limitations, humans still possess agency:

"I think we overindex on what we think is determined, and we have an ability to change that," Drew countered. "I feel like depression is an easy one where somebody's like, 'I'm not really in the mood to do this thing,' and they let that determine what their choices are."

Despite his deterministic view, Tom emphasized the importance of acting as though we have free will:

"Nobody should act like they don't have free will. Everybody should act like they do have free will," Tom concluded. "I know you just killed my baby, but you couldn't help it—it's all good. F*** that. I am going to respond with the fury of 10,000 suns. And if we're both just playing out a script, so be it."

Conclusion: Navigating a Complex Future

As the conversation wrapped up, several themes emerged about how we might navigate the rapidly changing technological and economic landscape. The hosts acknowledged the uncertainty inherent in predicting how AI will transform creative industries, how economic systems might evolve, and how we understand human agency.

Tom emphasized the importance of adapting to these changes while maintaining core values: "This is going to be a tremendous period of disruption, and there's going to be a whole lot of anxiety, and there's going to be all these debates, and there should be debates."

The discussion highlighted how technological innovation, economic systems, and philosophical questions about human nature are deeply intertwined. As AI continues to advance, as economic inequality persists, and as we grapple with fundamental questions about free will and determinism, the conversation demonstrated the value of nuanced, multidisciplinary thinking.

Ultimately, The Tom Bilyeu Show Live offered viewers a thought-provoking exploration of how these forces are reshaping our world and challenged us to think critically about our assumptions and beliefs as we navigate an increasingly complex future.

For the full conversation, watch the video here.