EP 052 · 53 MIN 99.99% OF YOUR IMAGES NEVER SEE DAYLIGHT
Midjourney’s Next Chapter: V8, Style Tools, and The 99.99% Problem
The short version
Episode 52 centers on what the hosts call Midjourney's '99.99% problem': almost none of the images anyone generates ever get shared, and Drew and Rory want a friends-only way to surface that private archive without building another follower-driven social feed. They also cover Sora 2's fast IP clampdown after Rory's viral, death-threat-drawing Super Mario clip, Veo 3.1's longer clips and start/end frames, Runway's new task-specific 'apps,' and Reve's relaunch with image editing and reverse visual search.
Key takeaways
- 01
Midjourney's 'unseen archive' problem: almost none of the images anyone generates get shared, and there's currently no way to extract value from that private folder.
- 02
Rory wants 'friends, not followers': a private feed to see what friends create, without turning image sharing into another growth-driven social platform.
- 03
Office Hours: Midjourney's V7 training data was reportedly called 'trash' internally; V7.1 may ship as a narrow prompt-accuracy update or get skipped for V8 outright.
- 04
After Sora 2's early IP free-for-all, OpenAI locked it down within days; Rory's viral Super Mario clip drew multiple death threats over what was meant as a joke.
- 05
Veo 3.1 adds clips up to about a minute, start/end frame control and 'ingredients,' but Rory calls it an incremental jump rather than a VO2-to-VO3-level leap.
- 06
Sora remains the only model that nails comedic timing without heavy prompting, which Rory calls AI video's 'last frontier' before Sora cracked it.
- 07
Runway's new 'apps' break its editor into named, single-purpose tools (remove an object, reshoot a product, change the weather), fixing the 'unlimited but directionless' problem of open-ended AI tools.
Receipts · said on the record
“We've all created so many damn images on this tool and less than 1% ever see the light of day. But that doesn't mean they're not valuable.”
“If you take the followers out of it, you take a lot of the business out of it, right? At the end of the day, that's what it is. You're just trying to move eyeballs from one place to the next.”
“I got death threats for a Super Mario video. Like, come on. I got not one, like multiple for that thing. And I'm like, are we being real here? Can we not just have a little bit of fun, everyone?”
“I think we've shifted from finding the right answer with critical thinking to finding the right question. It's like when everything can be answered and it has 100% accuracy … then it doesn't matter how you get to the answer. It matters what you're asking.”
“I would rather posts not go super viral. Like I want them to do well, but there's like this threshold that exists where when it goes truly viral, it then expands beyond people kind of like you and the lookalike audience.”
“If you're looking for real photo realism, like real quality aesthetic taste, Reve is a good one. It's also great with skin texture.”
Chapters
- 0:00 Cold open, what’s on deck this week
- 2:50 Midjourney focus: v8 push, V7.1 “flatline” expectations
- 3:37 Office Hours notes: V7 data “trash” comment, inconsistency feels
- 6:39 Midjourney’s lane vs. Nano-style natural language edits, hue/personalization fixes
- 8:39 Release vibes: David’s chipper mood, holiday-timing speculation
- 9:29 V8 → next video model; Style Finder vs. Style Creator; Style Explorer today
- 13:33 User profiles: do we actually want a social layer?
- 16:21 The unseen archive: making value from the 99.99% you never post
- 20:10 “Friends not followers” and smarter discovery without another social grind
- 22:17 Community events, MJ TV walls, style rankings, merch tease
- 23:14 Stickers, swag, hoodie season, and not becoming the mailman
- 26:58 Sora 2 afterglow: IP clamps, virality headaches, and death-threat absurdity
- 31:59 Rant: the skill shift from “right answers” to “right questions”
- 33:57 Veo 3.1: longer clips, start/end frames, sound tweaks, quarterly cadence
- 39:11 Why Sora is quietly best at humor and timing
- 40:04 The future of social: less followers, more friends, fewer ads
- 42:39 Runway “apps”: micro-tools that make editing obvious
- 44:05 Reve’s relaunch: edit-any-image, reverse search, excellent skin/texture
- 46:34 Photo Labs: restyling real photos without losing the moment
- 50:44 Wrap: building real workflows across tools, not just vibes
- 52:31 “Poke it with a stick”: like, sub, share, we’ll keep it under an hour
Questions this episode answers
What is Fast Hours' '99.99% problem' with Midjourney?
Drew and Rory point out that almost all of the images anyone generates on Midjourney never get posted or seen by anyone else, and argue there's no good way yet to surface or find value in that private archive.
Why did Rory get death threats over a Sora 2 video?
Rory made a viral Super Mario-themed Sora 2 clip using copyrighted characters; once it spread beyond his usual audience, he received multiple death threats over what he calls 'an AI generated stupid video' made purely for fun.
What's new in Veo 3.1?
Veo 3.1 extends clips to about a minute, adds start-and-end frame control and 'ingredients,' and improves sound, but Rory calls it an incremental update rather than a major aesthetic leap over Veo 3.
What are Runway's new 'apps'?
Runway broke its editor into named, single-purpose tools — removing an object, reshooting a product, adding dialogue, changing weather or time of day — which Rory says finally makes an open-ended tool easy to actually use.
Is Reve worth using for AI image generation?
Rory calls Reve the closest thing to Midjourney's quality inside node-based workflows like Weavy, praising its skin texture and photorealism, and highlights its new reverse-image search for finding real clothing items.
Show notes
Fast Hours Podcast Ep.52—Midjourney’s Next Chapter: V8, Style Tools, and The 99 99% Problem
Rory and Drew try to keep up with AI like two dads jogging after a runaway stroller.
They dig into Midjourney v8 rumors, the new Style Finder vs. Style Creator, and why personalization has everyone stuck in a pink-blue haze. They compare Sora 2’s shock-tightened IP rules to Veo 3.1’s practical upgrades, then sprint through Runway’s new “apps,” Reve’s under-the-radar glow-up, and a wild photo tool (Phota) that restyles real shots without wrecking the moment. It’s fun, a little chaotic, and weirdly useful.
