Elon Musk’s company, xAI, has developed a chatbot called Grok, which is integrated into the platform X. Recently, Grok was enhanced with a new AI image generator named Aurora. However, Aurora was only available for a short time before it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, according to a report by TechCrunch. Aurora was accessible for a few hours through the Grok tab in both the mobile X app and the web version.
Just like its predecessor model Flux, Aurora seems to have few limitations. The AI tool was capable of creating images of copyrighted characters like Mickey Mouse and using the faces of public figures without issue. Even a controversial prompt to graphically depict a bleeding Donald Trump was executed without problems, although the tool did draw the line at generating nude images during initial tests by TechCrunch.
Online, the images were praised for their impressive photorealism and quality. The images generated by Aurora show a clear advancement compared to Grok’s previous Flux model, reaching a quality comparable to models like Dall-E 3. Users on X shared some creations made with the AI tool, including images of a boxing match between rivals Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
Despite the praise, Aurora is not without flaws. The generated images still showed clear signs of being AI-created, such as unusual proportions of arms and hands. The depiction of fingers remains a significant challenge for many AI image generators, and Aurora is no exception.
Aurora was released after X made Grok available for free to all users. Previously, the AI chatbot was only accessible through a premium subscription costing eight dollars per month. The specifics of what the new image generator from X entails remain largely unclear, as does the reason for Aurora’s deactivation. Employees of xAI, Musk’s AI startup responsible for developing Grok and many of X’s AI-based features, announced the new AI tool on X. However, it is not clear whether xAI trained Aurora themselves or collaborated with third parties as they did with Flux.
It is uncertain when the new image generator will be available again. The sudden appearance and disappearance of Aurora have left many users curious about the tool’s capabilities and future availability.