We just got a glimpse of Grok’s new nearly photorealistic image generator

• On Saturday, some users of Elon Musk’s X saw Grok running a new image generator called Aurora.
• The new model appears to have more photorealistic generations than the prior Flux model.
• Aurora hasn’t been widely released, though reports indicate it has few limits on what it creates.

For a few hours on Saturday, some users of Elon Musk’s X reported having access to Aurora, a new, more photorealistic image generator powered by Musk’s artificial intelligence model, Grok.

While Aurora has not been widely released — and some users who reported having access to it later said their Grok had reverted to its older model, Flux — the brief glimpse at the newer model offered the first insight into how it compares to its predecessor and competitors.

Aurora’s detailed generations are a notable improvement from Grok’s Flux model and appear to rival the output of other models such as OpenAI’s DALL·E 3.

TechCrunch reported Aurora’s beta version — like Flux’s — appears to have few creative limitations, and in brief tests created images of copyrighted characters like Mickey Mouse and public figures, including a depiction of a “bloodied Donald Trump,” but “stopped short of nudes.” In tests by Business Insider, Grok’s Flux version also created images of Mickey Mouse but refused to create any violent imagery.

On X, users with access to the model shared photos of Aurora’s creations, including images of Ray Romano and Adam Sandler on a sitcom set and Musk boxing with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

While the images gained praise online for their quality and realism, there was still some evidence that they were AI-generated, such as unusual proportions in the arms and hands and an uncanny smoothness to some facial and skin features.

“X AI casually releasing one of the best image models on a Saturday at 2am… @xai y’all are built different,” Guillaume Verdon, the founder of AI startup Extropic and of the effective accelerationism movement, which supports AI growth and development without guardrails or regulation, wrote in a post tagging xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company that created Grok.

Musk replied to Verdo, who goes by Based Beff Jezos online, saying, “Just the beta version, but it will improve very fast.”

Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.