Yeah, I don’t know about the timing of this one, considering the various ongoing investigations into Grok’s capacity to generate nude and/or sexualized images of people.
But today, X has officially announced the launch of Grok Imagine 1.0, which it claims is its “biggest leap yet” in AI video generation.
As explained by X:
“Grok 1.0 unlocks 10-second videos, 720p resolution, and dramatically better audio. Imagine has generated 1.245 billion videos in the last 30 days alone.”
1.245 billion, you say? And how many of them would be deemed adult in nature? And how many of those would be depictions of people who would have preferred not to be the stars of these generated clips?
Because while X is excited about its evolving image and video generation tools, the fact is that many X users are indeed prompting Grok to generate sexualized content, of anyone that they choose.
Grok was even banned in several nations because of this, with X owner Elon Musk initially pushing back on calls to restrict the app’s use, and stop the generation of non-consensual sexual content.
But X did eventually agree to limit Grok image and video generation, in order to avoid further restrictions. And yet, researchers have found that Grok will still produce offensive images when prompted in certain ways, showing that X’s safeguards on this front aren’t particularly effective.
Though that may also be by design.
X owner Elon Musk is keen to facilitate a more open approach to social media, and what people can say, or generate, in his app. X’s AI companions, for example, were specifically made to engage in NSFW chatter on request, while reports indicate that Musk may have pushed to allow, and even encourage more “spicy” interactions with Grok in order to drive engagement.
There are also reports that X’s significantly reduced safety team repeatedly warned of the risks related to content generation in Grok, but that X chose to push ahead anyway.
So while xAI’s generation tools are evolving, and providing more capacity to produce more realistic-looking video clips and images, there are still major concerns around X’s approach to safety and protection, particularly in relation to CSAM material.
But aside from those issues, you may be able to produce some impressive-looking videos with Grok. If you’re a paying X user. And if you really want to generate video content.
Though it’s important to use the term “generate” versus “create” here, because these are regurgitated depictions of things that already exist on the internet, so you’re not really “creating” anything with these tools.
That’s also going to end up being the flaw with AI models like this, in that the creators want to sell the idea that you’ll be able to generate Hollywood movie-level videos on demand. But you won’t.
Writing, creating a movie, takes years of practice, refined skill, and a level of innate talent that few people possess. That’s why so few people even get a book published or a movie made, the challenge is less about the output and more about the input in this respect.
So while you might be able to generate some interesting video clips, and Grok’s evolving tools have produced some good-looking depictions, the likelihood of you using this to generate a viral hit are very limited.
But still, depending on what you want to do, and depending on your tolerance for X’s approach, it could be worth checking out.
X also notes that Imagine 1.0 can handle follow-up prompts to refine your output, while it’s also now much better at animating still images.
And nudes, apparently, but we’ll set that aside.
