Grok Imagine allegedly bypasses NSFW and deepfake safeguards present in rival tools like Sora and Veo.
The “spicy” mode can generate explicit videos with minimal input and weak age verification.
Over 34 million images have been created since launch, sparking calls for tighter regulation.
Elon Musk’s recently launched Grok Imagine, a generative video tool, is reportedly under fire for creating sexually explicit AI-generated videos of celebrities such as pop star Taylor Swift. The tool, which is available on iOS, allows users to convert AI-generated images into video clips with several presets, including one labelled spicy, which appears to allow the creation of inappropriate content without meaningful safeguards in place.
SurveyFor those who are unfamiliar, popular video creation tools such as OpenAI Sora and Google Veo restrict NSFW content and celebrity deepfakes. However, reports indicate that Grok Imagine appears to bypass these controls.
According to The Verge, the tool created revealing videos resembling Swift in seconds, with little user input and no age verification during installation. Although a birth year prompt appears before using the “spicy” mode, it is easily bypassed, raising concerns about online safety standards, especially in regions where age-gating regulations are strict.
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Despite xAI’s policy against pornographic depictions of individuals, Grok Imagine reportedly allows users to create realistic likenesses of celebrities and animate them in sexually suggestive ways. According to the report, the platform has created photorealistic images of minors but has exercised caution when animating those with the “spicy” preset.
This controversy is especially sensitive because we’ve already seen major concerns about AI-generated deepfakes involving Swift.
The controversy erupted shortly after CEO Elon Musk announced that Grok Imagine had created over 34 million images since its launch last week. With such outputs, the chatbot may soon face scrutiny, with potential legal consequences in the name of AI ethics and content safety.
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Ashish Singh
Ashish Singh is the Chief Copy Editor at Digit. He's been wrangling tech jargon since 2020 (Times Internet, Jagran English '22). When not policing commas, he's likely fueling his gadget habit with coffee, strategising his next virtual race, or plotting a road trip to test the latest in-car tech. He speaks fluent Geek. View Full Profile
