Elon Musk's social platform X (formerly Twitter) recently added a new image generator named Aurora to its AI assistant Grok. However, this feature disappeared from some users' interfaces just hours after its launch, raising concerns.
Similar to the first image generator Flux launched by X in October, Aurora has almost no generation limits and can be accessed through the Grok tab on the mobile app and web version. It can generate images of public figures and copyrighted characters (like Mickey Mouse), and although it cannot create nude images, it allows the generation of more graphic content, such as an image of "Donald Trump covered in blood."
It is currently unclear where Aurora's technology comes from. Most of X's AI features are developed by Musk's startup xAI. Although xAI employees have revealed they made adjustments to Aurora, it remains a mystery whether the generator was developed entirely independently by xAI. Aurora excels at generating highly realistic landscapes and still life images, but it still has significant shortcomings in detail handling, such as generating distorted hands or unnatural object blending.
The launch of Aurora coincides with X making the Grok service free for users. Previously, using Grok required a monthly Premium membership fee of $8, but now free users can send 10 messages every two hours and generate 3 images per day.
This week, X and xAI have drawn significant public attention. In addition to Aurora's brief appearance, xAI has also completed a $6 billion funding round and is reportedly developing a standalone application for Grok, with the release of the next generation chat model Grok3 also believed to be imminent.
Although the sudden disappearance of Aurora has sparked speculation, its brief appearance has once again demonstrated that X and xAI are continually advancing the development of generative AI technology.
