AI picture era was a wild mess — fingers all over the place, phrases that appeared like alien runes, and the occasional cursed face. However we’ve come a good distance. And now, two of the most important names within the area are going head-to-head: Midjourney v7 and GPT-4o.
Each are highly effective, each are brand-new, and each are claiming to be the perfect at turning your prompts into picture-perfect visuals. So naturally, I needed to attempt them out myself.
For those who’ve ever puzzled which AI instrument can create extra life like portraits, higher art work, or simply straight-up spell “Manila” accurately on an indication, this one’s for you.
Let’s break it down — immediate by immediate, function by function.
What’s Midjourney?
Midjourney is among the hottest AI picture mills on the web — and for good motive. Think about typing just a few phrases like “a cyberpunk owl ingesting espresso in Tokyo” and getting a hyper-detailed, mind-blowingly good picture in seconds. That’s Midjourney.
Not like instruments that attempt to be all the things for everybody, Midjourney leans laborious into the aesthetic. The artwork it spits out? Stylized. Cinematic. Typically even higher than what you’d get from a seasoned illustrator. It’s no marvel artists and entrepreneurs have all taken discover. It’s bizarre. It’s good. It really works.
Midjourney launched their newest mannequin, v7, in early April 2025. It guarantees higher creativity, context understanding, and information of what you need. Effectively, we’re placing it to the take a look at as we speak.
What’s GPT-4o?
OpenAI dropped GPT-4o final yr — with the “o” standing for “omni.” Fancy manner of claiming this factor can deal with textual content, audio, and pictures in a single go. And sure, that features picture era, à la DALL-E… however smarter and quicker.
The 4o picture era seems like OpenAI lastly determined to go head-to-head with Midjourney and Adobe Firefly. You sort a immediate, and it provides you visuals which might be shockingly on level — clear traces, good composition, and surprisingly few bizarre AI hiccups ( you, six-fingered arms).
One of the best half? It is baked proper into ChatGPT. Lengthy story quick: GPT-4o isn’t just speak anymore. It is obtained visuals and realism now, in contrast to the catastrophe that was DALL-E, and so they’re fairly strong.
Midjourney 7 vs. GPT-4o: Identical Prompts In contrast
Portrait
Immediate: a canine, portrait
OpenAI’s 4o mannequin provides us that shiny, magazine-quality canine picture the place the fur blends collectively in a barely too-perfect manner. Do not get me incorrect—it is leaps and bounds higher than what DALL-E 3 was able to. The textures are there, the proportions make sense, however one thing nonetheless feels a bit… manufactured.
Midjourney v7, alternatively? The canine seems genuinely actual — like I might attain by means of my display screen and pet it. Even zooming in (and belief me, I zoomed manner in), I could not discover these telltale AI artifacts we have all come to acknowledge. The fur has particular person strands, the eyes have depth, and the lighting interacts with the topic in a manner that makes you query if this was truly generated or simply taken by an iPhone.
Panorama
Immediate: mount kilimanjaro
Each fashions knocked this one out of the park, however in fully alternative ways. 4o went for sheer realism — capturing the mountain with such geographic accuracy that it might move for a Nationwide Geographic shot. The atmospheric perspective, the best way gentle hits the snow caps… it is all there.
Midjourney v7 took a extra creative method, surprisingly including a black and white impact that wasn’t a part of my immediate. The distinction between the darkish volcanic rock and shiny snow creates this dramatic, virtually cinematic high quality.
Whereas I would give 4o a slight edge for pure photorealism right here, V7’s stylistic selections would possibly truly be preferable relying on what you are on the lookout for. It is not about which is best — it is about which aesthetic you are attempting to attain.
Digital Art work
Immediate: Digital art work. Fractals within the form of a clock. Grainy pastel colours
4o’s method blends parts collectively extra seamlessly. The colour transitions are delicate however efficient. V7 went for greater distinction, making every fractal factor pop in opposition to its neighbors. The patterns are extra distinct, extra outlined.
That stated, neither mannequin fairly nailed the clock facet — the hour markers make completely no sense mathematically.
Emblem
Immediate: emblem for a perfumery
4o’s tackle a perfumery emblem feels distinctly millennial: easy, trendy, with stylish colours. Every part is softened with rounded edges and a minimalist method that screams “small-batch artisanal perfume that prices manner an excessive amount of however you may purchase it anyway.”
V7 went in a very completely different route, channeling artwork deco vibes with sharper angles and summary geometric patterns. It is fully monochromatic, which is an fascinating selection I did not specify.
Illustrations
Immediate: a gritty depiction of a detective roaming the neon streets throughout a storm.
4o’s detective illustration has that traditional newspaper sketch vibe—clear traces, easy however efficient coloring, and glorious distinction. The detective is entrance and heart, precisely as you’d need, and all the weather make good sense visually. Nothing bleeds collectively, and the colour palette is cohesive with out being boring.
Midjourney v7 tried to be extra formidable with its detective scene, packing in additional element that typically works in opposition to it. Components mix collectively, particularly within the rain results, creating this barely muddied visible that loses some readability.
With Textual content Technology
Immediate: a mileage signal taken by a telephone. The content material of the signal should be as follows: Line 1: “Manila” “10.1KM” Line 2: “Antipolo” “20.4KM” Line 3: “Batangas” “34.5KM” Line 4: “Quezon” “49.44KM” Line 5: “Naga” “142.4KM”
Here is the place we see the starkest distinction between these fashions. 4o completely nailed the mileage signal problem—good textual content rendering, correct numbers, correct formatting.
Every part is precisely the place it must be, readable, and appears prefer it was photographed on an precise freeway. It is a large leap ahead for OpenAI.
Midjourney V7? Full gibberish. The phrases and numbers appear to be they had been created by somebody who’s heard of English however by no means truly seen it written down. Letters morph into unusual symbols, numbers seem randomly — all of the works. For all of v7’s enhancements in picture high quality, textual content era stays its Achilles’ heel.
Limitations of Midjourney 7 and GPT-4o
Let’s begin with Midjourney v7.
I see two essential limitations with this mannequin: context understanding and textual content era. Regardless of the workforce’s lofty guarantees, it’s nonetheless laborious to immediate with Midjourney because it tends to drop some parts alongside the best way. Inform it to create 5 folks, and it offers you 3.7 folks — lacking limbs and all. And as you may see above, it nonetheless hasn’t solved the difficulty of textual content era.
4o Picture Technology doesn’t have these two points, however what it does have is strict content material restrictions. You’ll be able to’t reference artists with out ChatGPT stopping the era course of, which is ethically proper however creatively restrictive. It additionally lacks the wide selection of controls that Midjourney has — which means you could depend on strong prompting more often than not.
What Else Ought to You Know?
On the finish of the day, Midjourney v7 and GPT-4o are doing two very various things — and doing them properly. Midjourney leans into fashion and aptitude, whereas GPT-4o focuses on readability and precision.
For those who’re after artistic freedom, cinematic visuals, and creative touches you didn’t even ask for, Midjourney continues to be the king. However in case you want consistency, readable textual content, and one thing that truly resembles your immediate each time, GPT-4o is catching up quick — and in some circumstances, even pulling forward.
So which one’s higher? Truthfully, that is determined by what you’re creating. However one factor’s clear: AI artwork isn’t only a gimmick anymore. It is right here, it is evolving quick, and it’s getting kinda scary how good it is changing into.
Choose your fighter — or higher but, use each.
