no, Grok, it’s not exploitation

May 13, 2026

There’s a photo of my Momma when she was a kid in a bathing suit. We’ve always made fun of the size of her feet. It’s a black and white photo that’s not only crooked, but also fuzzy.

I asked ChatGPT to straighten, colorize, and clarify the features.

It did a GREAT job!

While ChatGPT is great for images, Grok excels in video.

I head over to Grok to have AI create a video of my Momma from that colorized photo that was taken when she was maybe 8 or 9 years old in the 1930’s. Grok kicked it back saying it was rejected because of their content policy, and added something about suitable for ages 18+. ๐Ÿ™„

I tried uploading the black and white image and it was just fine. When I asked Grok to do the same thing ChatGPT did before the animation, it was awful. It was so bad that I didn’t even ask Grok to animate it. It does ok on cartoonish images (like the one from our recent family gathering), just not “real” photos.

Grok family cartoon

But video clips are a different story if you start with a decent photo to begin with. The results can be pretty darned good… or at least funny. ๐Ÿ˜‰

How often do you fall into the AI rabbit hole insofar as images & video?

I don’t fall in that often, but when I do it sure takes a long time for me to get out. ๐Ÿ™‚


Now you know: 1940sโ€“1950s โ€” Color photography became more available to regular consumers, though black-and-white was still cheaper and more common. 1960sโ€“1970s โ€” Color photos largely overtook black-and-white for family snapshots and everyday use.