PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

David Holz

David Holz is the founder and CEO of Midjourney, whose text-to-image system turns prompts into images through Discord. His background includes applied mathematics at UNC Chapel Hill, research at Max Planck and NASA Langley, and CTO work on Leap Motion’s hand-tracking technology. Midjourney’s Version 3 model used user feedback, and its image and video products had more than 20 million users in 2025. He discussed limits on election images in 2024 and joined Society for Science’s Board of Trustees in April 2026.

Now at
Midjourney

Timeline

  1. 2008

    A PhD meets a startup

    While working toward an applied-math PhD at UNC Chapel Hill, he took leave in 2008 to start work on Leap Motion. His background also includes neuroscience research at Max Planck and contract work for NASA Langley.

  2. 2010

    A company for hand tracking

    With Michael Buckwald, he founded Leap Motion in 2010. He later served as its CTO as the company built hand-tracking technology.

  3. August 2014

    Taking tracking into VR

    He announced a VR Developer Mount and SDK update for the Leap Motion Controller, and previewed Dragonfly, a prototype sensor designed for VR hardware makers to embed.

  4. 2021

    A new lab for images

    After about twelve years with Leap Motion, he left in 2021 to create Midjourney.

  5. August 2022

    Prompts in a shared space

    Users could turn text prompts into images through Midjourney’s Discord community, where Holz said people wanted to make things together. Version 3 used user activity and responses in a feedback loop to improve image quality.

  6. February 2024

    Limiting election images

    He said Midjourney was close to blocking political images of Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and other candidates for the next 12 months.

  7. 2025

    An image and video audience

    Midjourney’s image and video generation products had more than 20 million users, most on Discord.

  8. April 2026

    Joining a science board

    He joined Society for Science’s Board of Trustees while serving as Midjourney’s founder and CEO.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of David Holz yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Society for Science welcomes David Holz and Sheel Tyle to its Board of Trustees societyforscience.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. David Holz, founder of AI art generator Midjourney, on the future of imaging theregister.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. CES 2013: computer motion firm takes giant leap into the future theguardian.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Leap Motion Sets a Course for VR leapmotiontechnology.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. An interview with David Holz, CEO of AI image-generator Midjourney: it’s ‘an engine for the imagination’ theverge.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. AI firm considers banning creation of political images for 2024 elections theguardian.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. DAVID HOLZ. | Computer Science | TIME Magazine | EBSCOhost ebsco.com. Checked 14 October 2026.