Midjourney announces surprise purchase of Co-Star app

Midjourney announces surprise purchase of popular horoscope app Co-Star after CEO Banu Guler revealed the deal on X. The generative AI lab, whose tools power services like Discord and Facebook, says Guler keeps complete control of Co-Star and becomes Midjourney's chief design officer amid a wider health and wellness expansion. The move pairs one of the most popular astrology apps with an image-generation giant, and it has already sparked a familiar question: what does AI want with the stars?

For readers who track how digital culture recycles old rituals, the deal also fits a Nostalgia: Then & Now pattern. Horoscopes once felt like an analog habit. Then Co-Star helped make them a daily app ritual. Now that ritual sits inside a generative AI company's roadmap.

Key Takeaways

• Midjourney has acquired Co-Star Astrology after founder and CEO Banu Guler announced the deal on X.
• Guler will keep complete control of Co-Star and become Midjourney's new chief design officer.
• Midjourney is already exploring health tech, including a full-body ultrasonic scanner and spa concepts under Midjourney Medical.
• Guler framed the partnership around shared interests with Midjourney founder David Holz in beauty, imagination, and human thriving.
• A Reuters/Ipsos poll cited in coverage found 71% of Americans worry AI could replace their jobs, a fear Guler addressed while explaining the deal.

What exactly happened in the Co-Star deal?

According to Mashable's report, Midjourney — described as one of the world's leading generative AI companies, with products licensed by tech powerhouses like Meta — has announced its acquisition of one of the most popular astrology apps. Banu Guler, founder and CEO of Co-Star Astrology, took to X to share the news.

Midjourney is best known for generative AI tools used by popular services like Discord and Facebook. On paper, that pedigree and a horoscope app make an unlikely pairing. Mashable noted that the acquisition was not on many 2026 bingo cards.

Because the surface-level match looks odd, Guler went into detail about the shared origins and interests tying the two companies together. The public framing of the deal mattered as much as the acquisition itself.

Why does Midjourney want an astrology app?

The top question is simple: what does a generative AI company want with a horoscope platform? Coverage points to Midjourney's wider forays into health as a clue. The company has been developing a full-body ultrasonic scanner and floating the idea of Midjourney Medical.

That concept would combine older wellness technology — saunas, hot tubs, and cold plunges — with ultrasonic scanning. Mashable floated the possibility that buying Co-Star is another step toward a more holistic healthcare approach: a mind-body-spirit gambit that covers more than image prompts alone.

In that reading, the surprise may be less random than it first appears. If Midjourney is building a broader human-thriving stack, an astrology app sits closer to spirit and self-reflection than to enterprise software. Co-Star becomes a cultural layer for meaning inside a company known for generative images.

Guler also stressed alignment with Midjourney founder David Holz and the lab's stated commitment to beauty, imagination, and supporting human thriving with technology. That language is designed to calm users who hear "AI acquisition" and immediately picture a cold product reboot.

Will Co-Star users keep the app they know?

Reassurance was a core part of the announcement. Midjourney reiterated that Guler would retain complete control of Co-Star. For an audience that is largely young — and already fluent in tech-induced anxiety — that promise is the practical headline under the corporate one.

Guler also addressed broader public fear of artificial intelligence. Mashable cited a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll finding that 71% of Americans worry that their job will be replaced by AI. Against that backdrop, distinguishing this partnership from a replace-the-humans story was strategic.

Keeping Guler in complete control signals continuity of leadership and brand voice. Users are being told the founder is not being sidelined as Midjourney takes ownership.

How does Banu Guler's new role change Midjourney?

As a result of the partnership, Banu Guler will also become Midjourney's new chief design officer. That dual role is the bridge between then and now: she keeps steering the astrology app while exporting Co-Star's design sensibility into Midjourney's wider ecosystem.

Mashable expects some of the seamless design touches that made Co-Star a standout success to show up across Midjourney products. If that lands, the acquisition is not only about charts and birthdays. It is about taste, interface craft, and emotional polish in tools people already use for images and imagination.

Design leadership inside an AI lab also reframes the nostalgia angle. Co-Star competed on vibe and clarity as a consumer ritual. Midjourney now appears to want that same feeling — wonder, trust, and daily habit — at a much larger product scale.

What does this mean for AI culture in 2026?

The deal lands in a year when Midjourney is already stretching beyond its famous image generator. Health hardware concepts and spa-like medical experiences sit far from Discord bot prompts. Folding in Co-Star extends that stretch into personal myth-making and ritual.

Whether the mind-body-spirit thesis proves out will depend on products users can actually touch. For now, the confirmed facts are narrower and still striking: Midjourney bought a major astrology app, Guler stays in charge of Co-Star, and she steps into Midjourney as chief design officer.

For a viral newsroom beat, that combination is the story. An AI company famous for generating pictures of anything is betting that people still want guidance, beauty, and a human-led brand when they open their phones to check the sky.