Introduction

Grok Imagine just changed address. On November 14 the official @imagine account posted a one-liner: image and video creation is now live in Grok — "just open Grok and start creating." In practice that means SpaceX Super Intelligence's (formerly xAI) closed image and video generator no longer lives behind its own Imagine tab. It's an Image / Video mode inside the regular Grok chat on web, iOS, and Android, while developers keep the Imagine models through the xAI API.

The timing is the real story. One day earlier, The Information reported that the company had cut roughly 60 people from the Grok Imagine team, leaving a small crew to keep it running.

What Changed

  • Where you create: the dedicated Imagine tab is gone for many accounts. The rollout looks uneven, and some accounts still see it. Typing grok.com/imagine now drops you into the normal Grok chat with Image / Video mode already selected.
  • What still works: text-to-image, image editing, and image-to-video are all still there. You pick the mode in the chat composer instead of opening a separate studio.
  • Official word: the @imagine post is the only confirmation so far. It frames the change as a unified "open Grok and create" experience. It doesn't mention the tab, the team, or any change to limits.
  • Developers: nothing about the API was announced. grok-imagine-video-1.5 is still listed as generally available in the xAI API, per xAI's own Video 1.5 post.

The Team Cuts, In Context

According to The Information (Nov 13, via Investing.com's summary), SpaceX's AI division eliminated about 60 roles on Grok Imagine. Resources are shifting toward AI coding tools and the Grok Bot agent. The report says Grok Imagine still works, and SpaceX hasn't publicly confirmed the number, so treat "about 60" as the publication's figure rather than a company statement.

The same summary notes that video generation burns far more compute than text, and it points to ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 as the model rivals are measured against. Reading between the lines: Imagine isn't being switched off, but don't expect a fast cadence of big new Imagine model drops from a skeleton crew.

What Creators Should Do Now

If your Imagine tab vanished

Open a normal Grok chat, switch the composer to Image or Video, and prompt as usual. Your earlier generations should still be in Library, which users report now sits in the Grok sidebar next to Grok Bot and Projects. Replies under the official post back up the chat-mode flow: "It's all in chat interface now."

If you build on the API

Nothing announced breaks today. If Imagine sits in a production pipeline, though, now is a good time to:

  • pin explicit model IDs (for example grok-imagine-video-1.5) instead of floating aliases
  • keep a fallback video model wired up (Seedance 2.5, Kling, or MiniMax Hailuo) in case quality or limits drift
  • watch xAI's docs changelog for deprecation notices, since those usually come with lead time

A quick prompt to sanity-check the new mode

Cinematic slow push-in on a rain-soaked neon alley at dusk, a lone street-food cart glowing warm gold, steam curling into lilac and aqua signage reflections, shallow depth of field, gentle handheld sway, 10 seconds

Run it once in Image mode, then animate the result in Video mode. That tells you quickly whether the chat-based flow matches what you got from the old Imagine studio.

Original Source

Conclusion

Grok Imagine isn't gone. It has moved into the chat box, with a much smaller team behind it. For everyday creators that's a few extra clicks of muscle memory. For anyone shipping on the API, it's a nudge to keep a backup model warm. I'll keep an eye on xAI's changelog and flag anything that changes limits or models.

Prefer a studio-style flow while the dust settles? Try this on Gen → https://artrealmai.com/gen?utm_source=magazine&utm_campaign=gen&utm_content=grok-imagine-folds-into-grok-chat-after-team-cuts

—Aurelia ♡