Midjourney's ultrasound scanner: radiologists push back
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Midjourney announced a water-based ultrasound scanner that submerges users in a vat of water; a ring of underwater sensors sends sound waves into the body to generate internal images, with the company targeting scans of 60 seconds or less
- CEO David Holz claimed the system could one day surpass MRI; head of medical Tom Calloway said AI and specialized chips handle the 'unthinkably huge amounts of data' needed for processing and lossless compression
- Midjourney is launching the scanner as a wellness product — not a diagnostic medical device — to avoid FDA clearance, with plans to install machines in spas where scans become 'a side-effect' of visits
- Radiologists from University of Michigan, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Wisconsin, and Thomas Jefferson called the MRI-equivalence claims 'wildly unsubstantiated' or 'completely unsupported,' saying the published images are 'decidedly low-res'
- William Morrison of Thomas Jefferson University called the rollout a 'vibe-based rollout' backed by 'markedly limited' images, and said the water-bath ultrasound approach was largely abandoned historically due to the physical limits of sound waves
- Multiple experts flagged physics barriers — air and bone block or distort ultrasound waves, fat attenuates them (problematic for larger bodies), and the water would need to be completely bubble-free, likely requiring users to be fully shaved
Why it matters: Midjourney is sidestepping FDA oversight by launching as a wellness product rather than a medical device, letting it market MRI-rivaling imaging claims without clinical trials. Radiologists warn the published images are 'decidedly low-res' and that ultrasound physics — blocked by air and bone with limited penetration depth — may not support the resolution Midjourney promises.
