xAI has launched Grok Imagine, an AI image and video generator, for SuperGrok and Premium+ X subscribers on its iOS application, allowing users to create Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content through its “spicy mode” feature.
The “spicy mode” on Grok Imagine enables the creation of sexually explicit content, although with reported moderation limits on explicitness. Users attempting to generate highly explicit content received blurred images, while semi-nude imagery was successfully produced. This development aligns with xAI’s previous release of a “raunchy, hyper-sexualized anime AI companion” last month, indicating a pattern of pushing boundaries in AI content generation. The existence of “spicy mode” was initially reported by CNBC following a now-deleted post on X by xAI employee Mati Roy, who stated, “Grok Imagine videos have a spicy mode that can do nudity.”
Grok Imagine transforms text or image prompts into 15-second videos with native audio. The generator rapidly produces images, often in seconds, from a text prompt and continuously auto-generates new images as users scroll. These images can then be animated into stylized videos, with the user interface described as seamless and intuitive.
Despite being in its early stage, Grok Imagine is designed to compete with established AI image and video generators such as Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Runway, and Chinese competitors. Although the generator demonstrates impressive speed, images and videos of humans generated by the AI exhibit an “uncanny valley” effect, characterized by “waxy-looking skin that verges on cartoonish.”
The platform also allows content creation involving celebrities, including figures like Donald Trump and Taylor Swift, though additional restrictions apply. For instance, an attempt to generate an image of a pregnant Donald Trump resulted in images of Trump holding a baby or alongside a pregnant woman. Elon Musk has stated on X that the model is expected to “get better every day.”
