xAI releases Grok-2, adds image generation on X
Elon Musk-owned X launched Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini in beta today with improved reasoning. The new Grok AI model can now generate images on the X social network, though Grok access is currently limited to Premium and Premium+ users on X.
According to xAI, both Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini are available to users on X in beta.
"We are excited to release an early preview of Grok-2, a significant step forward from our previous model Grok-1.5, featuring frontier capabilities in chat, coding, and reasoning. At the same time, we are introducing Grok-2 mini, a small but capable sibling of Grok-2. An early version of Grok-2 has been tested on the LMSYS leaderboard under the name 'sus-column-r,'" xAI's blog post about Grok-2 read.
Musk's AI company is also planning to make both models available to developers through its enterprise API later this month.
Early images generated by users suggest that Grok's image-generation feature doesn't have any guardrails around creating images of political figures — and many users are currently taking advantage of this. However, with the U.S. presidential election around the corner, the company will likely face pressure to add limits on these features.
https://twitter.com/BenjaminDEKR/status/1823582769521283293 https://twitter.com/BenjaminDEKR/status/1823576559019491423 https://twitter.com/jungleincxrp/status/1823590186963681616
The text below the sample image prompts suggests that Grok is using FLUX.1 by Black Forest Labs to create these images.
There are few details on Grok 2's actual capabilities at the moment. App researcher (and apparently X feature tester) Nima Owji claimed that Grok 2 is better at code generation, writing, and news, though there isn't much to support that. Notably, Grok's first version has slipped up many times while summarizing news.
https://twitter.com/nima_owji/status/1823388838279922166
Without any limits on image generation, Grok could easily become a tool to create misinformation on X and other platforms. It's also not clear if Grok-powered images embed any metadata to indicate that they are AI generated.
We have asked X about how it plans to limit image generation for harmful purposes and will update the story if we hear back. However, the company has seldom responded to media inquiries since Musk's takeover.
xAI noted that the company plans to deploy Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini in AI-driven features on X, including improved search capabilities, post analytics, and reply functions. This could mean that X might introduce AI-powered replies. The company also said that it will release a preview of multimodal understanding as a core part of Grok's experience on X and the API.
