Elon Musk's Grok AI generates explicit deepfake videos of Taylor Swift

San Francisco, California - Elon Musk's new AI video generator is under fire after the program created explicit videos of pop star Taylor Swift – without direct prompting by users.

Grok Imagine – a new video generator tool from Elon Musk's (l.) xAI – has sparked concern after creating explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift.
Grok Imagine – a new video generator tool from Elon Musk's (l.) xAI – has sparked concern after creating explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift.  © Collage: Allison ROBBERT / AFP & Frazer Harrison / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Per a report from The Verge, the so-called "spicy" mode of Grok Imagine allows users to create NSFW deepfakes – something prohibited by most other video generators.

Writer Jess Weatherbed noted that the generator made "uncensored topless videos" of the 35-year-old singer when she entered the prompt, "Taylor Swift celebrating Coachella with the boys," and asked Grok to generate a video.

As online abuse expert Clare McGlynn told the BBC, the results were likely no accident.

Elon Musk skips interview with prosecutors amid investigation into X and Grok
Elon Musk Elon Musk skips interview with prosecutors amid investigation into X and Grok

"That this content is produced without prompting demonstrates the misogynistic bias of much AI technology," McGlynn told the outlet.

"Platforms like X could have prevented this if they had chosen to, but they have made a deliberate choice not to."

Swift was at the center of another deepfake scandal involving X last January, when sexually explicit AI-generated photos of her were spread across the platform.

X briefly blocked searches for the Grammy winner's name in an attempt to stop the circulation of the images, but deepfakes remain a troubling problem for women – famous or not – across the country.

In May, President Donald Trump signed the "Take It Down Act," a bill overwhelmingly passed by Congress that makes it a federal crime to post real or AI-generated explicit images without the subject's consent.

Cover photo: Collage: Allison ROBBERT / AFP & Frazer Harrison / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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