Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque Steps Down: What This Means for the Future of AI

Following the resignation of key researchers at Stability AI earlier this week, the company’s founder and CEO, Emad Mostaque, has stepped down as well, according to a statement released on the company’s website and shared with the press.

“I am proud to have led Stability AI to hundreds of millions of downloads and to the best models across modalities since bringing on our first developer two years ago,” Mostaque stated. “I strongly believe in Stability AI’s mission and trust that the company is in capable hands. It’s now time to ensure that AI remains open and decentralized.”

Stability AI stated that Mostaque’s resignation was to “pursue decentralized AI.” In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he added, “The concentration of power in AI is detrimental to all of us. I decided to step down to address this issue at Stability and beyond.” He clarified that he held the majority board vote through his shares and that the decision to resign was his own.

In the interim, the company’s board has appointed Shan Shan Wong, Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Christian Laforte, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), to fill Mostaque’s position while they search for a permanent replacement.

A Significant Impact

Mostaque founded Stability AI in 2020 in London and San Francisco, initially self-funding the company. He built a 4,000 Nvidia DGX A100 compute cluster that supported researchers, including those from video AI startup Runway and the Machine Vision & Learning research group at LMU Munich. This collaboration led to the release of Stable Diffusion, a groundbreaking open-source text-to-image model, in August 2022, followed by a $101 million investment at a $1 billion valuation later that year.

Stability AI's open-source Stable Diffusion models have served as the foundation for various companies, including Leonardo AI, Civit.ai, and Visual Electric. Collectively, these applications have accounted for “hundreds of millions of downloads” and likely generated billions of AI images on the web, marking a significant turning point in AI image generation.

A Troubled Tenure

Mostaque’s leadership has not been without controversy. Reports have surfaced suggesting a history of issues within the company, including a Forbes investigation that claimed he overstated his credentials and misrepresented his role in founding the Stable Diffusion models. Mostaque has denied these allegations, clarifying that while he did not attend his Oxford graduation, he would arrange to have his degrees mailed to him. He has also described himself as neuro-divergent, indicating that his direct communication style may have been misinterpreted.

In July 2023, co-founder Cyrus Hodes filed a lawsuit against Stability AI, claiming Mostaque misled him about the company’s worth when Hodes sold a 15% stake for $100 in 2021 and 2022. Additionally, the company faces lawsuits from artists alleging copyright violations due to unauthorized image scraping used for AI model training.

Recent reports indicate further departures from Stability AI, including Rombach and researchers Andreas Blattmann and Dominik Lorenz, who were integral to the development of Stable Diffusion. Tyler Saltsman, the company’s director of supercompute and strategic partnerships, also resigned due to frustrations with commercial efforts. In December 2023, Stability AI introduced subscription plans for new models, priced around $20 per month.

Despite challenges in fundraising, including a $50 million convertible note from Intel, Stability AI continues to release advanced models, such as Stable Video 3D. Mostaque later shared on X that he faced a coordinated campaign against him, describing it as a unique experience of being “canceled” in Silicon Valley, hinting at further revelations to come.