Elon Musk’s social network, X, formerly known as Twitter, has introduced a cutting-edge image generator named Aurora to its Grok assistant. The feature, available through X’s mobile apps and web platforms, gained attention for its ability to create photorealistic images. However, just hours after its Saturday debut, Aurora vanished for many users.
The launch was met with intrigue and criticism. Aurora demonstrated impressive capabilities, generating images of public and copyrighted figures like Mickey Mouse without significant restrictions. While graphic content, such as “an image of a bloodied Trump,” was permissible, the model did avoid explicit nudity during tests. Its strengths lay in realistic renderings of landscapes and still lifes, but flaws such as unnatural object blending and anatomically incorrect hands were noted.
The development of Aurora remains unclear. Musk’s AI startup, xAI, which powers many of X’s AI features, played a role in fine-tuning Aurora. However, the team hasn’t disclosed whether Aurora was entirely developed in-house, built atop existing tools, or the result of third-party collaboration. Musk hinted in August at xAI’s efforts to create an internal image generation system, adding on Saturday that Aurora is “still in beta but will improve fast.”
Aurora’s launch coincides with other notable updates at X and xAI. Grok, previously exclusive to X Premium subscribers, is now free, allowing users to send up to 10 messages every two hours and generate three images daily. Additionally, xAI recently secured $6 billion in funding and is reportedly developing a standalone app for Grok while preparing the next-generation Grok 3 model.
Despite its brief availability, Aurora sparked discussions about the future of AI image generation, with its capabilities showcasing potential and its limitations highlighting the ongoing challenges in the field. Musk’s declaration of rapid improvement hints at more refined iterations in the near future.
