Elon Musk’s Grok Imagine launches 'Spicy Mode' for AI‑generated adult videos

xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, recently rolled out Grok Imagine, a new multimodal tool that lets users turn text or images into animated video clips with audio. Beginning August 6, 2025, this feature entered beta testing on the iOS app and is available to SuperGrok and Premium+ subscribers on X (formerly Twitter).

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Grok Imagine supports up to 15‑second video generation, and includes four stylistic options—Custom, Normal, Fun, and Spicy. The “Spicy” mode, in particular, allows users to generate NSFW content, including risqué or semi‑nude visuals, albeit with blurred moderation applied in.

Just last month, the company introduced an anime-inspired AI companion with a hyper-sexualized vibe. Musk has always pitched Grok as an "unfiltered" alternative to other chatbots, and it looks like the image generator is following the same path for better or worse.

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However, its introduction has ignited widespread debate over the tool’s potential for misuse, particularly in enabling deepfakes of real people, with reports indicating even mild prompts in “Spicy” mode have produced Taylor Swift–style videos with near nudity, raising legal red flags.

The 'spicy mode' feature first came to light after xAI employee Mati Roy posted about it on X (formerly Twitter), saying it could generate nudity. That post has since been deleted, but the feature is real and controversial.

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Critics, including advocacy groups such as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, reportedly have argued that allowing such content risks non-consensual sexualization, likeness misuse, and deepfake creation, exacerbated by weak age verification and moderation systems.