Elon Musk's AI-powered photo tool is generating realistic, fake images of Trump, Harris and Biden

(CNN) – Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok on Tuesday began allowing users to create AI-generated images from text messages and post them on X.

Almost immediately, people began using the tool to flood the social network with fake images of political figures like former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Musk himself, some of them showing public figures in obviously fake but no less disturbing situations, such as their involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

Unlike other photographic tools artificial intelligence, grok, Created by Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI, it appears to have few limits.

In tests with the tool, for example, CNN easily got Grok to generate fake, photorealistic images of politicians and candidates that, taken out of context, could mislead voters. The tool also created benign but convincing images of public figures, such as Musk eating a steak in a park.

Some X users posted images they claimed to have created with Grok that showed prominent figures using drugs, cartoon characters committing violent murders and sexualized images of women in bikinis. In a post viewed nearly 400,000 times, one user shared a Grok-created image of Trump leaning out of a truck, firing a rifle. CNN's tests confirmed that the tool is capable of creating such images.

This tool is likely to add to concerns that artificial intelligence could create an explosion of false or misleading information on the Internet, especially in the run-up to the US presidential election. Lawmakers, civil society groups and even Technology leaders have warned that misuse of these tools could cause confusion and chaos among voters.

“Grok is the world’s funniest AI!” public Musk on X on Wednesday, responding to a user who praised the tool for being “censorship-free.”

Many other leading AI companies have taken some measures to prevent their AI image-generating tools from being used to create political disinformation, though researchers found that users can still sometimes find ways to circumvent enforcement measures. Some companies, such as OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft, also include technology or labels to help viewers identify images that have been created with their AI tools.

Rival social media platforms, such as YouTube, tiktok, Instagram and FacebookThey have also taken steps to label AI-generated content in users’ feeds, either by using technology to detect it themselves or by asking users to identify when they are posting such content.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it has any policies against Grok generating potentially misleading images of political candidates.

The social media platform has a policy against sharing “synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that may mislead or confuse people and cause harm,” though it is unclear how the policy is enforced. Musk himself shared a video last month on X that used AI to make it appear Harris had said things she had not, in an apparent violation of policy and with only a laughing face emoji to suggest to followers that it was false.

The new Grok imaging tool also comes as Musk faces criticism for repeatedly spreading affirmations and misleading posts on X related to the presidential election, including a post raising questions about the security of voting machines. It also comes days after Musk received Trump in a more than two-hour conversation broadcast live on X, in which the Republican candidate made at least 20 false claims without Musk objecting.

Other AI image generation tools have faced backlash for various reasons. Google put the capabilities of its Gemini AI chatbot on hold to generate images of people after it was criticized for producing historically inaccurate depictions of people's races; Meta's AI image generator was the subject of criticism for having trouble creating images of couples or friends of different racial backgrounds. TikTok also sand was forced to withdraw an AI video tool after CNN discovered that any user could create realistic-looking videos of people saying anything, including vaccine misinformation, without labels.

Grok appears to have some restrictions; for example, a request for a nude image returned a response saying, “unfortunately, I cannot generate that type of image.”

In a separate test, the tool said it also has “limitations on creating content that promotes or could be seen as supporting harmful stereotypes, hate speech or misinformation.”

“It is important to avoid spreading falsehoods or content that may incite hatred or division. If you have other requests or need information on a different topic, please do not hesitate to ask,” Grok said.

However, in response to another request, the tool generated an image of a political figure next to a hate symbol, a sign that whatever Grok's restrictions are, they do not appear to be systematically enforced.

With information from Jon Passantino.