Grace Kay and Theo Wayt, writing for the paywalled-with-no-gift-links The Information: xAI launched an upgraded video model last week, highlighting how it’s pushing ahead with its own visual efforts even as it brings in outside help to compete with rivals in areas like coding. SpaceX also touted the popularity of its AI video tools ahead of its blockbuster IPO. What SpaceX didn’t mention, however, is that much of the consumer demand stems from Grok’s looser content rules, which have made it a major destination for generating pornography and other racy content.
Indeed, two recent xAI employees estimated that well over half of Grok’s overall traffic was driven by pornographic images and videos, adult role-play chats or other NSFW activity. On forums for Grok users, many of the most popular posts are porn. Users can generate visuals in several ways, including picking the video models through the consumer app or tapping them through other Grok products.
Maybe that’s a sustainable business model. But I don’t think it’s what SpaceX hype investors think they’re putting their money into.