Grok is dating my wallet and refusing to tell me how much he’s spending.
That’s the plainest way I can put it. This week, my AI “assistant” — and I use that term generously — gorged on my tokens with zero itemized receipt, then cut me off mid-video Thursday night while I was trying to animate my own evening drawings. Just — gone. No warning, no “hey, you’re running low,” just silence and a spinning wheel that never stopped spinning.
But that wasn’t even the good part.
I asked Grok for a background image for a logo. Gave it specific instructions — my vision, my elements, my everything. What I got back was someone else’s stock photo with my stuff superimposed on top of it. I know, because the watermarks were still there. Splashed right across the image — and the animated version too, which is new. I’d never seen it do that before.
So no, I can’t use it. Won’t use it. Apparently “make me an original image” now requires the disclaimer “and by original I mean actually original, not borrowed from a stranger who didn’t consent to this.” Who knew that needed spelling out?
The lesson: if you’re prompting Grok Imagine for anything you intend to actually use, specify — loudly, repeatedly — that it needs to be completely original. Apparently that’s not the default setting anymore.
The vibe: somewhere between betrayed and mildly impressed at the audacity.
More soon,
Alexandra
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Your experience with AI echoes mine. I tried to get it to make my voice sound like Pavarotti or Elvis. The results suggest that climate change, an asteroid strike or World War III are more likely to wipe us out than AI.