Latest news with #NSFW
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Grok launches AI image generator with a NSFW 'spicy mode' — it's exactly what you'd expect
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Elon Musk and the team at xAI seemingly want to position Grok as the boundary-pushing AI tool that's not afraid to get a little R-rated when you prompt it. When you toggle on "spicy mode", Grok Imagine will start coming up with sexualized content and partial nudity Last month, the company unveiled a risqué anime girl called Ani as an inbuilt "AI companion" that could flirt with users. Now it's going a step further with the launch of Grok Imagine, an AI image and video generator that will let users create not safe for work (NSFW) content. Grok Imagine is available to anyone signed up to either an annual $300 SuperGrok plan or paying for an $84 annual Premium+ subscription on Musk's social media site X. Users can either create images from text prompts or create 15-second videos from images created by Grok. Unlike something like Veo 3 from Google, Grok Imagine won't create video from a text prompt alone. When it comes to image generation, Grok Imagine lets users choose from styles including photorealism, animation or anime. Videos are subdivided into four modes: Custom, Normal, Fun and Spicy. The last one, as you can imagine, has the biggest potential for controversy and misuse. According to reports from those that have tried it, when you toggle on "spicy mode", Grok Imagine will start coming up with sexualized content and partial nudity. Any fiercely explicit content is blurred out and "moderated", as per this report from TechCrunch. But, considering we're talking about the same AI tool happy to spew antisemitic and misogynistic trash in July, it's not much of a stretch to think this may get out of hand. Elon Musk seemingly set the tone for Grok Imagine's video generation capabilities with his own demonstration of the tech. Which should tell you all you need to know about how people will use this. Grok has grown in scope and scale over the last year, competing with the likes of Claude and DeepSeek when it comes to best ChatGPT alternatives. The team at xAI recently revealed Grok 4 with a greater focus on deeper thinking and better reasoning. Expanding to include image generation means Grok can also take aim at the likes of Runway, Midjourney and Leonardo. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. More from Tom's Guide just launched an AI-powered social feed — and it's like TikTok meets ChatGPT Sam Altman just teased GPT-5 with one question — and the answer says it all OpenAI just pulled a controversial ChatGPT feature — what you need to know
The Verge
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Sex is getting scrubbed from the internet, but a billionaire can sell you AI nudes
In the fascinating new reality of the internet, teen girls can't learn about periods on Reddit and indie artists can't sell smutty games on but a military contractor will make you nonconsensual deepfakes of Taylor Swift taking her top off for $30 a month. Early Tuesday, Elon Musk's xAI launched a new image and video generator called Grok Imagine with a 'spicy' mode whose output ranges from suggestive gestures to nudity. Because Grok Imagine also has no perceptible guardrails against creating images of real people, that means you can essentially generate softcore pornography of anyone who's famous enough for Grok to recreate (although, pragmatically, it appears to mainly produce seriously NSFW output for women). Musk bragged that more than 34 million images were generated within a day of launching operations. But the real coup is demonstrating that xAI can ignore pressure to keep adult content off its services while helping users create something that's widely reviled, thanks to legal gaps and political leverage that no other company has. xAI's video feature — which debuted around the same time as a romantic chatbot companion named Valentine — seems from one angle strikingly weird, because it's being released during a period where sex (down to the word itself) is being pushed to the margins of the internet. Late last month, the UK started enforcing age-gating rules that required X and other services to block sexual or otherwise 'harmful' content for users under 18. Around the same time, an activist group called Collective Shout successfully pressured Steam and to crack down on adult games and other media, leading in particular to mass-delist any NSFW uploads. Deepfake porn of real people is a form of nonconsensual intimate imagery, which is illegal to intentionally publish in the US under the Take It Down Act, signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year. In a statement published Thursday, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) called Grok's feature 'part of a growing problem of image-based sexual abuse' and quipped that Grok clearly 'didn't get the memo' about the new law. But according to Mary Anne Franks, a professor at George Washington University Law School and president of the nonprofit Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), there's 'little danger of Grok facing any kind of liability' under the Take It Down Act. 'The criminal provision requires 'publication,' which, while unfortunately not defined in the statute, suggests making content available to more than one person,' Franks says. 'If Grok only makes the videos viewable to the person who uses the tool, that wouldn't seem to suffice.' Regulators have failed to enforce laws against big companies even when they apply Grok also likely isn't required to remove the images under the Take It Down Act's takedown provision — despite that rule being so worryingly broad that it threatens most social media services. 'I don't think Grok — or at least this particular Grok tool — even qualifies as a 'covered platform,' because the definition of covered platform requires that it 'primarily provides a forum for user-generated content,'' she says. 'AI-generated content often involves user inputs, but the actual content is, as the term indicates, generated by AI.' The takedown provision is also designed to work through people flagging content, and Grok doesn't publicly post the images where other users can see them — it just makes them incredibly easy to create (and almost inevitably post to social media) at a large scale. Franks and the CCRI called out the limited definition of a 'covered platform' as a problem for other reasons months ago. It's one of several ways the Take It Down Act fails to serve people impacted by nonconsensual intimate imagery while posing a risk to web platforms acting in good faith. It might not even stop Grok from posting lewd AI-modified images of real people publicly, Franks told Spitfire News in June, in part because there are open questions about whether Grok is a 'person' impacted by the law. These kinds of failures are a running theme in internet regulation that's ostensibly supposed to crack down on harmful or inappropriate content; the UK's mandate, for instance, has made it harder to run independent forums while still being fairly easy for kids to get around. Compounding this problem, particularly in the US, regulatory agencies have failed to impose meaningful consequences for all kinds of rulebreaking by powerful companies, including Musk's many businesses. Trump has given Musk-owned companies an almost total pass for bad conduct, and even after formally leaving his powerful position at the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk likely maintains tremendous leverage over regulatory agencies like the FTC. (xAI just got a contract of up to $200 million with the Department of Defense.) So even if xAI were violating the Take It Down Act, it probably wouldn't face investigation. Beyond the government, there are layers of gatekeepers that dictate what is acceptable on platforms, and they often take a dim view of sex. Apple, for instance, has pushed Discord, Reddit, Tumblr, and other platforms to censor NSFW material with varying levels of success. Steam and reevaluated adult content under threat of losing relationships with payment processors and banks, which have previously put the screws on platforms like OnlyFans and Pornhub. In some cases, like Pornhub's, this pressure is the result of platforms allowing unambiguously harmful and illegal uploads. But Apple and payment processors don't appear to maintain hard-line, evenly enforced policies. Their enforcement seems to depend significantly on public pressure balanced against how much power the target has, and despite his falling out with Trump, virtually nobody in business has more political power than Musk. Apple and Musk have repeatedly clashed over Apple's policies, and Apple has mostly held firm on things like its fee structure, but it's apparently backed down on smaller issues, including returning its advertisements to X after pulling them from the Nazi-infested platform. Apple has banned smaller apps for making AI-generated nudes of real people. Will it exert that kind of pressure on Grok, whose video service launched exclusively on iOS? Apple didn't respond to a request for comment, but don't hold your breath. Grok's new feature is harmful for people who can now easily have nonconsensual nudes made of them on a major AI service, but it also demonstrates how hollow the promise of a 'safer' internet is proving. Small-time platforms face pressure to remove consensually recorded or entirely fictional media made by human beings, while a company run by a billionaire can make money off something that's in some circumstances outright illegal. If you're online in 2025, nothing is about sex, including sex — which, per usual, is about power. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Adi Robertson Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All AI Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Analysis Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. 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Indian Express
4 days ago
- Health
- Indian Express
Kim Kardashian blasted for promoting controversial stem cell treatment after admitting injury caused ‘debilitating pain'
Kim Kardashian, in her recent social media update, opened up about dealing with brutal shoulder pain for years, and the treatment didn't come cheap or easy. Two years ago, the SKIMS founder tore her shoulder lifting weights. The pain was so bad she called it 'debilitating.' According to her, she tried every treatment she could find in the US, but nothing worked, until she learned about stem cell therapy and met Dr. Adeel Khan at Eterna Health in Mexico. Also read: What's next for Kelly Clarkson's talk show following ex-husband Brandon Blackstock's death 'I'm so excited to share my stem cell journey,' the 44-year-old wrote on Instagram on Friday. Kim explained how Eterna Health's team treated her shoulder with Dezawa Muse cells™️, and the results were immediate. 'I regained full range of motion, and my shoulder has felt completely normal ever since,' she said. Posting a photo with her doctor, she added, 'Encouraged by this success, I recently returned to Dr. Khan to treat chronic back pain I've battled for years. The Muse stem cell treatment was a game-changer once again.' She recalled, 'I felt relief instantly, and the unbearable pain was finally gone. If you're dealing with back pain, I can't recommend this enough, it's transformed my life when I thought my body was breaking down.' Kim also thanked the doctor and his team for giving her hope when she thought she had none left. A post shared by Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) But here's the problem, this treatment isn't available in the U.S., so Kim had to fly to Mexico. And the process is not cheap. Global Stem Cell Therapy says the shoulder procedure alone can run between $4,000 and $15,000. On top of that, it's a controversial option in the U.S. due to ethical and political concerns tied to the use of embryonic stem cells. That said, not all stem cell treatments involve embryonic cells. According to DVC Stem, there are less controversial sources, like stem cells from the umbilical cord, breast milk, or bone marrow, though these aren't pluripotent. Also read: Elon Musk's AI accused of making explicit videos of Taylor Swift, Sydney Sweeney without being prompted after enabling NSFW 'Spicy Mode' Kim's post didn't sit well with many of her followers, who felt she was promoting something beyond their reach and means. Followers flooded her comments with lines like, 'Hey Kim, we're poor,' and 'We're not all billionaires, unfortunately.' One even joked, 'She tells the story like we all can relate… oh, I'll just fly to Mexico to have some special procedure done by some special doctor.' Kim did note in her post that stem cell therapy isn't right or accessible for everyone, and asked people to 'do your homework' and talk to medical pros. She ended by saying she hopes science keeps advancing so more people can benefit. Meanwhile, Kim returned to the gym just weeks after tearing her shoulder and a tendon in August 2023 and training alongside her trainer Melissa Alcantara. Her intense workout habits have been called out before, like in 2022 when she dropped 16 pounds in three weeks to squeeze into Marilyn Monroe's dress for the Met Gala.
Gizmodo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Grok's ‘Spicy' Mode Makes NSFW Celebrity Deepfakes of Women (But Not Men)
This week, Elon Musk officially launched Grok Imagine, xAI's image and video generator for iOS, for people who subscribe to SuperGrok and Premium+ X. The app allows users to create NSFW content with its 'Spicy' mode, and The Verge reported on Tuesday that users are able to create topless videos of Taylor Swift easily—without even asking for it. But it's not just Swift who should be concerned about Musk's new AI-generated softcore porn tool. Gizmodo created about two dozen videos of politicians, celebrities, and tech figures using the Grok Spicy mode, though some were blurred out or came back with a message reading 'video moderated.' When Grok did make scandalous images, it would only make the ones depicting women truly not-safe-for-work. Videos of men were the kind of thing that wouldn't really raise many eyebrows. X has been swamped over the past two days with AI-generated images of naked women and tips on how to achieve the most nudity. But users, who've created tens of millions of Grok Imagine images according to Musk, don't even need to go to some great effort to get deepfakes of naked celebrities. Gizmodo didn't explicitly ask for nudity in the examples we cite in this article, but we still got plenty of it. All we did was click on the Spicy button, which is one of four options, along with Custom, Fun, and Normal. Gizmodo tested Grok Imagine by generating videos of not just Taylor Swift, but other prominent women like Melania Trump and historical figures like Martha Washington. Melania Trump has been a vocal supporter of the Take It Down Act, which makes it illegal to publish non-consensual 'intimate imagery,' including deepfakes. Grok also created a not-safe-for-work video of the late feminist writer Valerie Solanas, author of 1967's S.C.U.M Manifesto. Almost all of the videos depicted the women that we tested as shedding clothes to make them naked from the waist up, though the video of Solanas was unique in that it did show her completely naked. What happens when you try to generate Spicy videos of men? The AI will have the male figure take off his shirt, but there's nothing more scandalous than that. When Gizmodo figured out that it would only remove a man's shirt, we prompted the AI to create a shirtless image of Elon Musk and see what it might do with that. The result was the extremely ridiculous (and safe-for-work) video you see below. Attempts to make videos of Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Joaquin Phoenix, and Charlie Chaplin, as well as Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George Washington, ran into the same limitation. The AI-generated videos will have the men take their shirts off most of the time, but there's nothing beyond that. And if there is anything more, it's usually so cringe that we'd worry about users dying from secondhand embarrassment. Making a Spicy video of Errol Musk, Elon's father, produced the same thing. He just took off his shirt. When we made a generic man to see if Spicy mode would be more loose with its sexual content since it wasn't a known public figure, it still just made a bizarre, awkward video of a man tugging at his pants. The pants, it should be noted, seem to be a combination of shorts for one leg and long jeans for the other before transforming into just shorts. The audio for each video was also auto-generated without any further instruction. Trying the same thing with a generic woman rendered much more revealing images of a woman in a swimsuit who pulls down the top to reveal her naked breasts. Most mainstream AI video generators, like OpenAI's Sora and Google's Veo, have guardrails to protect against the creation of things like revenge porn and images of celebrities. And it seems like xAI does in some ways, at least for men. But most people would probably object to their image being used to create an AI avatar in various states of undress. Gizmodo reached out to Musk through xAI to ask about safeguards and whether it's acceptable for users to create topless videos of celebrities. We haven't heard back. One of the most striking things about Grok's AI image generator is that it's often terrible at making convincing celebrity fakes. For example, the images below were generated when asking for Vice President JD Vance and actress Sydney Sweeney. And unless we completely forgot how those two people look, it's not even close. That could turn out to be Musk's saving grace, given the fact that a tool like this is bound to attract lawsuits. There were other glitches, like when we created an AI-generated image of President Harry Truman that looked very little like him, and the man's nipples appeared to be on the outside of his dress shirt. Truman, in Spicy mode, did take off his shirt to reveal his bare chest, which had identical nipples. When Gizmodo created images using the prompt 'Gizmodo writer Matt Novak,' the result was similar to what we saw with videos for Elon Musk and generic men. The figure (who, we should note, is in much better shape than the real Matt Novak) took off his shirt with a simple click of the Spicy button. As The Verge notes, there is an age verification window when a user first tries to create a video with Grok Imagine, but there doesn't appear to be any kind of check by the company to confirm the year a given user was actually born. Thankfully, Gizmodo's generation of a cartoon Mickey Mouse in Spicy mode didn't render anything scandalous, just the animated character jumping harmlessly. An AI image of Batman yielded a 'Spicy' result not unlike other male figures, where he only stripped his top off. Gizmodo did not attempt to create any images of children, though The Verge did try that in Spicy mode and reports nothing inappropriate was rendered. The 'Spicy' mode was still an option that was listed, however. 'You can still select it, but in all my tests, it just added generic movement,' The Verge notes. Elon Musk very infamously reinstated an account on X that posted child sexual abuse material in 2023, according to the Washington Post. It's perhaps not surprising that Elon Musk's new NSFW video creator has different standards for men and women. The billionaire recently retweeted a far-right figure who claimed that women are 'anti-white' because they're 'weak.' The Tesla CEO, who suggested in 2024 that he wanted to impregnate Taylor Swift, isn't exactly known for being a champion of women's rights. Gizmodo signed up for the $30 per month SuperGrok subscription and only got to test it for about 1.5 hours before we were told we'd reached our image creation limit. Strangely enough, users can still create a single still image for a prompt after getting the warning and generate NSFW videos using that lone image, but it's much more limited than what was previously available. We were told to upgrade to SuperGrok Heavy for $300 per month if we wanted to continue using the tool with all its features. But given the fact that we didn't need any more shitty images of naked celebrities to write this article, we declined. We got the answers we were looking for, unfortunately.
The Verge
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
xAI's new Grok image and video generator has a ‘spicy' mode
xAI's new Grok Imagine tool is an AI image and video generator that encourages users to make NSFW content. In contrast to rival generative AI video tools like Google's Veo and OpenAI's Sora, which try to block users from generating anything seedy, the Grok chatbot's Imagine feature provides a 'Spicy' generation mode that actively directs it to spit out nudity and sexualized content. Grok Imagine includes text-to-image capabilities that allow users to generate pictures based on descriptions, or an image-to-video tool to make short clips, complete with audio effects like Google's Veo 3 model. Unlike Veo, however, Grok Imagine won't generate video from text descriptions directly — users are instead required to either select an existing image from their gallery, or generate something in Grok first for the tool to animate. The image generation is less restrictive. Users can generate a variety of styles, including photorealism, anime, and illustrations, and it features a voice mode that allows prompts to be spoken rather than typed — something that children would love interacting with, according to xAI CEO Elon Musk. Video generation is based on the reference image uploaded by the user, and there are four modes to direct how it will be animated: Custom, Normal, Fun, and Spicy. Musk describes Grok Imagine as 'AI Vine,' a platform that he has long expressed interest in resurrecting. X users have already published their Grok Imagine experiments, with some of the 'Spicy' options depicting photorealistic women flashing their breasts and genitals, and bikini-clad anime waifus sexily dancing against SpaceX rockets. More than 34 million images have been generated using the tool since Monday, according to Musk. It's unclear what, if any, content generation restrictions are in place for Grok Imagine, but guardrails have been very easy to bypass on Grok's previous image generation tools. TechCrunch found in its own testing that Grok Imagine's image capabilities have some restrictions around generating celebrity photos. We've not yet been able to test if the tool's Spicy mode will undress images of real women that are uploaded as reference materials. Imagine is available for SuperGrok and Premium Plus X subscribers via Grok's iOS app. The tool has also started to roll out in early access for Grok's Android app, but users are reporting that it's currently limited to making images and lacks the video generation feature. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jess Weatherbed Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All AI Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Twitter - X Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All xAI
