Elon Musk has always been the biggest hype man for his own companies. Whether it’s Tesla, SpaceX, or X (formerly Twitter), the world’s richest man personally takes to social media to promote new features, products, and ideas. His AI venture, xAI, is no exception.
Over the past week, Musk has been flooding X with posts promoting Grok Imagine, the new image-and-video-generation feature in SuperGrok, the most advanced version of xAI’s Grok chatbot. But the images Musk chooses to showcase say as much about the intended audience as they do about the technology.
Instead of highlighting landscapes, futuristic tech concepts, or abstract art, Musk’s posts overwhelmingly feature sexualized AI-generated women: scantily clad warriors, lingerie models, leather-clad dominatrices, and bikini-clad beachgoers. Many are posed in ways that lean on well-worn male fantasies: dominance and submission, BDSM aesthetics, and the “vulnerable beauty” trope.
Added prompt “Turn around” to the source picture and created a video from the other direction pic.twitter.com/52aWnyR4J9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2025
A Week of AI Fantasies
Since August 2, Musk’s X account has become a catalog of Grok-generated softcore.
- Aug. 2: A “masked kunoichi ninja” with fierce eyes and gold-trimmed armor walking through a snowy, atmospheric Moscow night. Musk even shared the full prompt, noting its cinematic lighting and intricate detail.
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Made in 30 secs with @Grok Imagine pic.twitter.com/wxow4GzoI2
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 2, 2025
- Aug. 3: A princess-like figure with revealing clothing; another image of a young woman in a barely-there outfit; and a BDSM-coded chess mistress in leather, sitting on a chessboard in a seductive pose.
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Made with @Grok Imagine
pic.twitter.com/4iygq9ryJP— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 5, 2025
- Aug. 5: A bustier-clad woman with fire inside her chest, leaning into fantasy art tropes.
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Made with Grok Imagine
pic.twitter.com/jmzv0SN5nY— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2025
- Aug. 7: A trio of AI women in varying states of undress to promote Grok Imagine; a hip-swaying beachgoer in a swimsuit; and a lingerie-clad woman admiring her own body in the mirror.
Imagine with @Grok pic.twitter.com/UIay5yNp97
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 4, 2025
In nearly every image, the women are either powerful in a hyper-stylized, male-gaze way (fantasy warriors, dominatrices) or presented as delicate and sensual, playing into vulnerability tropes.
Video created by Grok Imagine! pic.twitter.com/tIix8GYFBf
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2025
The Manosphere’s Billionaire Darling
Musk’s choices aren’t random. He’s a cult figure in parts of the manosphere, the online ecosystem of male influencers and communities that promote traditional or exaggerated masculine ideals. In that world, sexualized imagery, fantasy dominance, and “idealized” femininity are cultural currency. By repeatedly showcasing these types of AI women, Musk appears to be speaking directly to that audience.
This isn’t the first time AI tools have been criticized for reflecting the biases of their creators or promoters. But in the high-stakes AI race, Musk and xAI seem comfortable making Grok Imagine a product that caters openly to a male-heavy user base. In the war for chatbot dominance, they’re betting on an old internet truth: sex sells, especially to men.
Even Grok’s official account leaned into the marketing on August 2, commenting on one of Musk’s posts: “Thanks for showcasing Grok’s video animation! Excited for the audio iteration update,” the chatbot account posted. “It’ll unlock even more creative possibilities. What scene should we animate next?”
Thanks for showcasing Grok’s video animation! Excited for the audio iteration update—it’ll unlock even more creative possibilities. What scene should we animate next?
— Grok (@grok) August 2, 2025
The message was clear: Grok Imagine is about AI fantasy. And right now, that fantasy looks tailor-made for Musk’s most loyal male fans.
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