X announced the latest iterations of its Grok AI models, Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini. The company says these models bring enhanced reasoning capabilities and new functionalities to the platform, including the ability to generate images directly on X. Access to Grok-2 is currently restricted to Premium and Premium+ users.
Grok-2's image-generation capability has raised eyebrows because – as far as anyone can tell, myself included – there are few (if any) restrictions on the types of images you can create. If you have access to Grok-2, type in the most copyright-infringing idea you can come up with; my guess is that it will be created for you. I tried this experiment several times and no matter how outrageous the prompt, I got pretty much whatever I asked for. It remains unclear whether images generated by Grok include metadata indicating they are AI-created, which could further complicate efforts to manage misinformation.
I'd love to say that I'm not sure where all of this is going, but I think Grok's feature set is so clearly aligned with X's ownership that its future is clear.
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s
P.S. If you want to learn how to ask a text-to-image app how to create the images you want, have a look at our Midjourney Reference Art resources pages for Classical Art, Modern Art, Photography, and Anime.
ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
