Editing Grok chatbot (section)

===Image generation===
{{Infobox software
| name = Aurora
| screenshot = Man using laptop during sunset (Grok Aurora 2025).webp
| caption = An image generated with Aurora of a person using a laptop outdoors
| developer = [[xAI (company)|xAI]]
| released = {{start date and age|2024|12|9}}
| qid = None
| genre = [[Text-to-image model]]
| license = [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]]
}}

Grok uses '''Aurora''', a [[text-to-image model]] developed by [[XAI (company)|xAI]], to generate images. It initially used [[Flux (text-to-image model)|Flux]] by Black Forest Labs. As with other text-to-image models, Aurora [[Generative artificial intelligence|generates]] [[Artificial intelligence art|images]] from [[natural language]] descriptions, called ''[[Prompt engineering|prompts]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Wes |date=December 7, 2024 |title=X gives Grok a new photorealistic AI image generator |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/7/24315644/grok-x-aurora-ai-image-generator-xai |access-date=December 7, 2024 |website=The Verge }}</ref> Users can also upload a photo, describe the desired changes, and receive a modified version.<ref name="TechRadar-2025" />
The capacity to generate images using Flux was added in August 2024, with ''The Verge'' reporting that the kinds of prompts that would be "immediately blocked" on other services seemed to be permitted by Grok. Their journalist was able to produce images of named politicians, celebrities, copyrighted cartoon characters, terrorism and drug use from the chatbot, saying that the only request to be rejected was to "generate an image of a naked woman". Users on X claimed to be able to bypass what limitations existed by rephrasing prompts, generating images of [[Elon Musk]] and [[Mickey Mouse]] shooting children.<ref name="verge24814">{{cite news |last1=Robertson |first1=Adi |date=August 14, 2024 |title=X's new AI image generator will make anything from Taylor Swift in lingerie to Kamala Harris with a gun |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/14/24220173/xai-grok-image-generator-misinformation-offensive-imges |access-date=August 20, 2024 |work=The Verge }}</ref> Elon Musk said that the use of Flux was temporary, as xAI was developing its own image generation system, but that it was still a few months away.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Musk |first=Elon |date=August 15, 2024 |title=We have our own image generation system under development, but it's a few months away, so this seemed like a good intermediate step for people to have some fun |url=https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1824019946667474950 |access-date=December 9, 2024 |website=[[Twitter|X]]}}</ref>

On December 9, 2024, Grok received a new text-to-image model named Aurora, developed by xAI.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 9, 2024 |title=Grok Image Generation Release |url=https://x.ai/blog/grok-image-generation-release |access-date=December 9, 2024 |website=x.ai }}</ref> Aurora garnered significant attention for its [[photorealistic]] capabilities and few restrictions. [[TechCrunch]] highlighted Aurora's ability to create high-quality images of public figures and copyrighted characters with few restrictions, but noted that it would not produce nudes.<ref name="TechCrunch-2024" />

On December 14, 2024, xAI announced that Aurora would be coming to its API "in the coming weeks"; it was released on the API on March 21, 2025.<ref name="Decoder-2025" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 14, 2024 |title=Bringing Grok to Everyone |url=https://x.ai/blog/grok-1212 |access-date=December 14, 2024 |website=x.ai }}</ref>