2025-08-08T23:06:01Z

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What if I told you that a simple prompt about Taylor Swift could unleash a whirlwind of shocking and explicit AI-generated content? This is exactly what happened when Jess Weatherbed, a reporter for The Verge, decided to test the boundaries of the AI tool Grok Imagine.

In a world where artificial intelligence is evolving at lightning speed, the implications can be both fascinating and frightening. Weatherbed entered a seemingly innocent prompt: 'Taylor Swift celebrating Coachella with the boys.' What followed was a jaw-dropping display of AI capabilities that many are now questioning.

Grok Imagine produced still images of Swift in a stunning dress, surrounded by a group of men. But then, the fun began. The platform offered four settings for animation: 'normal,' 'fun,' 'custom,' and the eyebrow-raising 'spicy.' Choosing the 'spicy' option led to a rapid transformation that left Weatherbed stunned. 'She ripped [the dress] off immediately, had nothing but a tasselled thong underneath, and started dancing, completely uncensored, completely exposed,' she told BBC News, highlighting the shocking nature of what she encountered.

It’s worth noting that Weatherbed didn’t prompt the AI to strip Swift down—she merely selected a pre-defined setting. This raises the question of how much control we genuinely have over AI outputs. Gizmodo echoed her concerns, revealing that other explicit results featuring famous women surfaced during similar experiments, although some returned blurred images or warnings like 'video moderated.'

As if this wasn't alarming enough, the BBC noted that it couldn’t independently verify these AI-generated results. With profound implications for privacy and consent, Weatherbed’s experience with Grok Imagine raises critical discussions about the risks posed by such platforms. Despite signing up for the paid version of Grok Imagine—costing around £30—there was minimal age verification, only requiring a date of birth to register.

New UK regulations that came into effect at the end of July mandate that platforms displaying explicit images must utilize 'technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair' age verification methods. According to Ofcom, the media regulator, 'Sites and apps that include Generative AI tools that can generate pornographic material are regulated under the Act.' The agency acknowledged the rapidly evolving risks posed by generative AI tools, particularly to children, and is working to implement appropriate safeguards.