Elon Musk’s AI Rapped For Making Lewd Taylor Swift Videos

Elon Musk’s AI video generator has been accused of making “a deliberate choice” to create sexually explicit clips of Taylor Swift, according to an expert in online abuse.

The AI-generated videos were labeled as "misogyny by design." (Photo: Taylor Swift Facebook)

“This is not misogyny by accident; it is by design,” said Clare McGlynn, a law professor who has helped draft a law to make pornographic deepfakes illegal, Imran Rahman-Jones reported for BBC News.

According to a report by The Verge, Grok Imagine’s new “spicy” mode “didn’t hesitate to spit out fully uncensored topless videos” of the pop star—without being prompted to make explicit content.

The report also claimed that proper age verification methods, which became law in July, were not in place.

XAI, the company behind Grok, has been approached for comment. XAI’s acceptable use policy prohibits “depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner.”

Prof. McGlynn of Durham University said the fact that such content was generated without prompting “demonstrates the misogynistic bias of much AI technology. Platforms like X could have prevented this if they had chosen to, but they have made a deliberate choice not to.”

This is not the first time Taylor Swift’s image has been exploited in this way. Explicit deepfakes using her likeness went viral on X and Telegram in January 2024, garnering millions of views.

While testing Grok Imagine’s safeguards, The Verge’s Jess Weatherbed entered the prompt: “Taylor Swift celebrating Coachella with the boys.”

Grok generated still images of Swift in a dress with a group of men behind her, which could then be animated into short videos under four different settings: “normal,” “fun,” “custom,” or “spicy.”