YOU CAN GROK THIS: The biggest AI flops of 2024.

The vast majority of major AI image generators have guardrails—rules that dictate what AI models can and can’t do—to prevent users from creating violent, explicit, illegal, and otherwise harmful content. Sometimes these guardrails are just meant to make sure that no one makes blatant use of others’ intellectual property. But Grok, an assistant made by Elon Musk’s AI company, called xAI, ignores almost all of these principles in line with Musk’s rejection of what he calls “woke AI.”

Whereas other image models will generally refuse to create images of celebrities, copyrighted material, violence, or terrorism—unless they’re tricked into ignoring these rules—Grok will happily generate images of Donald Trump firing a bazooka, or Mickey Mouse holding a bomb. While it draws the line at generating nude images, its refusal to play by the rules undermines other companies’ efforts to steer clear of creating problematic material.

What it does is make Grok’s image generator much more useful and fun than the others I’ve tried.