After adding a pornographic AI Companion last month, Elon Musk’s Grok app now has a new AI image and video generator called “Imagine,” which lets you create “Spicy” content. The feature is currently available on mobile. While some reports suggest you need a SuperGrok or X Premium+ subscription to use it, the feature has been accessible without either. To get started, you tap the new “Imagine” tab at the top of the app. Once a short waitlist clears, you can enter a text prompt or upload an image from your library to create AI art. The content generation is extremely fast, and the tool provides several results for each prompt.
How to Use the New “Spicy” Mode
To convert one of the generated results into a video, you open it and select “Make Video.” From the drop-down menu next to this option, you can set the tone of your video based on four options: Custom, Fun, Normal, and Spicy. The last option, of course, includes NSFW content. While the tool asks for your birth year, it doesn’t include any formal age verification. Grok’s team insists that the “Spicy” mode isn’t just for adult content; it’s for “bold, unrestricted creativity.” The tool can generate 15-second videos with a suitable background score. Content can be favorited, downloaded, or shared, with favorited visuals collected in a separate section.
Early Performance and Broader Context
The image generation isn’t perfect in its early beta stage. For example, a request for a soccer field resulted in an image with only one goalpost and a comically misplaced halfway line. On X, Musk cautioned that “Imagine” is “just an early beta [and] will vastly improve in the weeks and months to come.” Based on early reactions on X, the tool is primarily being used to generate videos, with much of the content being NSFW, including one video that Musk himself shared to promote the feature.
This development comes as Musk’s other platform, X, is facing potential legal action over the inappropriate handling of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). X does not currently support Grok’s AI Companions, which might not be appealing to advertisers. In other news, Musk also announced that X has found a video archive from Vine through 2016 and is working on restoring user access. Twitter, which acquired Vine in 2012, shut it down several years later.
Author’s Opinion
The introduction of an AI image and video generator with a “Spicy” mode seems like a deliberate, if controversial, strategy by Grok to attract a specific, unfiltered user base to the platform. By embracing a feature that other major tech companies would likely shy away from due to regulatory and advertiser concerns, Grok is prioritizing rapid user engagement and a sense of “unrestricted creativity.” This move could alienate mainstream advertisers and invite intense scrutiny from regulators, but it aligns with Elon Musk’s broader vision of a platform that is a haven for free speech, even if that means pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. It is a high-risk, high-reward approach that could either make Grok a must-have app for a niche audience or a pariah in the broader digital ecosystem.
Featured image credit: Mariia Shalabaieva via Unsplash
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