Luma AI, the startup known for Dream Machine, is introducing Photon, a new text-to-image foundation model designed for professionals, creative artists, small businesses, and educators. Boasting speeds and costs 800 percent better than comparable models, Photon aims to bring the success it found with video generation to other visual areas. Alongside the launch, Luma AI is rolling out its Photon Image API, making it easy for developers to integrate this powerful technology into their applications.
In addition to introducing Photon, Luma is scaling its platform for professionals and the enterprise. Since launching in 2024, Dream Machine has been free to use, but now, with more than 25 million registered users, the company believes some customers will pay for additional support and features. To that end, Luma is launching four subscription tiers—$9.99 for hobbyists, $29.99 for explorers, $99.99 for professional use cases, and an enterprise tier for larger teams.
“We are training the next generation of intelligence that goes far beyond language models and is rich in context and highly visual,” Luma AI Chief Executive and co-founder Amit Jain says. “We are building Dream Machine on top of this creative intelligence as a new kind of place for people to be able to express their ideas in a fluid image, video, and language medium.”
From Video to Image Generation With Photon
“Just as the Adobe Suite became indispensable because it held the context of our work lives, the real magic of Luma AI is in becoming the home for each creator’s unique creative DNA—their references, their style, their history—while Dream Machine learns and evolves with each user’s creative journey,” Andreessen Horowitz General Partner and company board member Anjney Midha, remarks in a statement.
The release of Photon enables Luma to remain competitive in the generative AI space, bringing its capabilities on par with the likes of OpenAI (DALL-E and Sora), Google DeepMind (Imagen and Phenaki), Meta, Runway, and Stability AI (Stable Diffusion). It’s an unsurprising move, but what makes this new foundation model so great?
Photon is built on Luma’s Universal Transformer architecture, which the company emphasizes is faster and cheaper. It offers multimodal support, generating images based on simple natural language prompts and image instruction “at ultra-high quality”—it accepts existing works and styles. And, like its video counterpart, Photon features “state-of-the-art” text rendering. Luma boasts that it can produce the best creative outputs for visual tasks in music, film, graphic design, architecture, and fashion.
Bringing Photon to Apps Via API
The model will not be limited to the Dream Machine website; it’s also integrated into the platform’s API, which launched in September. The company claims that because its models are built using preference feedback provided by Dream Machine users, apps that use its Photon Image API will be able to meet the preferences and needs of their users immediately.
“Through the Photon Image API, developers can bring state-of-the-art text-to-image, image-to-image, and single-image character reference capabilities to their users,” Luma clarifies. “The Photon Image API offers rapid global scaling to help products grow and dedicated hands-on support. Inputs and outputs to the Photon Image API are kept private and never used in model training.”
Photon’s addition bolsters Dream Machine’s API capabilities, which already include text-to-video, image-to-video, keyframe control, video extension and looping, camera motion control, and variable aspect ratios. While the API is comparatively priced at $0.32 per million pixels generated, Luma did not disclose if the pricing will be modified now that Photon is part of the mix.
Although Photon is available today through the Dream Machine website, the Photon Image API won’t be available until December (Q4 2024).
Luma AI Dream Machine Subscription Pricing
Nothing is free, and it was only a matter of time before Luma started charging for Dream Machine usage. The time is now, and for those creative professionals who want greater access and service, it’ll cost you. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as Luma follows the same playbook its competitors use. Generating images and videos requires a significant investment, and with computing costs skyrocketing within the AI field, one way to generate revenue is through a subscription offering. OpenAI, Anthropic, Midjourney, and others do it.
Luma lists four premium tiers with each plan providing “unparalleled value, enabling users to create more ideas through images and videos than ever before at an exceptional cost-efficiency, all powered by the groundbreaking architecture of Luma AI models to deliver creative freedom.” Here’s a comparison table outlining what you’d get (as of Nov. 25, 2024):
| Platform | Plan | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Credits | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web | Free | $0.00 | $0.00 | Limited | – 720p generations – Lower priority – Non-commercial use – Watermarks |
| Lite | $9.99 | $6.99 (30% off) | 3,200 | – 1080p generations – High priority – Non-commercial use – Watermarks | |
| Plus | $29.99 | $20.99 (30% off) | 10,000 | – 1080p generations – High priority – Commercial use – No watermarks | |
| Unlimited | $94.99 | $66.49 (30% off) | 10,000 (fast mode) | – Unlimited relaxed mode – High priority – Commercial use – No watermarks | |
| Enterprise | N/A | N/A | 10,000 (fast mode) | – Unlimited relaxed mode – High priority – Commercial use – No watermarks | |
| iOS | Free | $0.00 | $0.00 | Limited | – 720p generations – Lower priority – Non-commercial use – Watermarks |
| Lite | $9.99 | $7.99 (20% off) | 3,200 | – 1080p generations – Non-commercial use – Watermarks – Includes all Web Lite features | |
| Plus | $29.99 | $23.99 (20% off) | 10,000 | – 1080p generations – No watermarks – Includes all Web Plus features | |
| Unlimited | $94.99 | $75.99 (20% off) | 10,000 (fast mode) | – Unlimited relaxed mode – No watermarks – Includes all Web Unlimited features |
As you notice, the more budget-friendly plans offer lower-resolution images for non-commercial use and will have a Luma watermark. They also offer fewer credits. Another difference is with the platform: Though the monthly costs are the same, you receive a larger discount if you subscribe for the annual price via the web than on iOS.
Featured Image: An AI video clip generated by Luma Labs' Dream Machine featuring a corgi exploring a vibrant, futuristic city with glowing neon lights. Video credit: Luma Labs Dream Machine
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