The AI company that gave the world machine-generated imagery is now after something more intimate — your full biometric profile, delivered via submersion tank and ultrasound, beginning with a Union Square spa that won't open until late 2027 and hasn't yet cleared a single federal regulatory hurdle.

Midjourney CEO David Holz announced a new division, Midjourney Medical, this week, unveiling a full-body ultrasound scanner the company claims rivals MRI machines. The first installation will be a 23,000-square-foot spa at 300 Grant Avenue in Union Square — four floors on a 10-year lease, outfitted with about 10 submersion-based scanners alongside cold plunges, saunas, and hot tubs. What wasn't announced at the launch: what the scan costs, whether the FDA has cleared the device for the diagnostic claims being made, or what Midjourney does with the body-scan data it collects at scale.

The scanner, per Midjourney's website as reported by the SF Standard, uses ultrasound — sound and water, no radiation — and asks users to fully submerge for roughly 60 seconds. That part is straightforward enough. The regulatory question is less so.

Midjourney claims the technology produces imaging "that's in many ways superior to even MRI machines." Under FDA classification, ultrasound devices used for diagnostic imaging are regulated medical devices requiring premarket clearance or approval before manufacturers can make clinical performance claims. Midjourney Medical has not announced any FDA clearance for the device. The company's website, as of publication, does not address the regulatory pathway.

The data question is equally unresolved. Midjourney built its business on AI systems trained on images. Its latest ambition is to run 1 billion individual body scans annually, across 50,000 machines and roughly 5,000 locations worldwide — a volume that would generate one of the largest repositories of intimate biometric data ever assembled outside a healthcare system. No data retention or sharing policy has been published.

The launch drew nearly 30,000 live viewers on X and was attended by Bryan Johnson, the anti-aging influencer best known for experimental self-administered longevity regimens. Johnson appeared in a video posted by journalist Ashlee Vance and cited by the SF Standard: "Imaging is one of the best modalities in the world for health and wellness, but it's expensive, it's painful, it's a total hassle. This makes it easy and fun and cool." He did not cite clinical evidence for the comparison.

Holz, appearing in an oversized black beanie and wire-rim glasses, was candid about the vibe he's chasing. "I don't want to feel like I'm going to a doctor's office," he said at the announcement. "I want to feel like I'm going somewhere that's nice." He acknowledged the wet part: "You're going to have to get wet, but there are lots of nice situations to get wet."

The Union Square location fits a broader pattern in the neighborhood's post-pandemic reinvention. The 300 Grant building, completed in 2021, briefly housed luxury outdoor-apparel brand Arc'teryx before cycling through Brilliant Earth as a showroom. Now it becomes a biohacking spa from a tech company whose core product — AI image generation — shares no obvious supply chain with medical imaging hardware. What links them, at minimum, is data.

Marisa Rodriguez, CEO of the Union Square Alliance, welcomed the news in a press release cited by the SF Standard: "The Midjourney Spa will bring something wholly new and unique to Union Square visitors — an immersive, deep sensory experience that we're all incredibly excited about."

Whether that novelty extends to FDA-reviewed efficacy, transparent data practices, or disclosed pricing remains to be seen. Holz told the SF Standard he expects the spa to pay for itself within six months of opening. He sketched out a $20 billion global expansion. "Which is doable," he added.

This isn't the first time a tech company has introduced an intimate biometric collection device into San Francisco's public life without much regulatory friction. The Dissent reported last week that three Castro bars are scanning patrons' faces under a city privacy law that doesn't cover them. The pattern — deploy first, ask regulatory questions later — has become something of a Bay Area operating philosophy. Midjourney is running it at the scale of a spa, with ambitions for a billion bodies.

The Union Square spa is scheduled to open at the end of 2027 and operate 24/7.