I recently discovered Grok Imagine on X - well, “recently” is a stretch, this draft has been sitting in my to-do list for months. In short, Imagine lets you turn photos and images into short AI-generated videos. Don’t worry - this site and my channels are not turning into AI slop. I generally dislike that kind of content, but I do find the technical side of it interesting.

In this article, I’ll show a few random images I uploaded and converted into short, six-second clips. What surprised me most is how quickly it can generate something fairly convincing. It’s worth a look and it makes you wonder what this technology might be capable of in five years’ time.

That said, it can feel a bit strange. Animating old photos, especially of people you once knew, or who have passed away has an uncanny quality. On the other hand, some people might find comfort in seeing old memories brought briefly back to life, even if it’s just for a few seconds.

The audio and speech still need a lot of work - it’s very hit-and-miss, and like most AI image tools, it often struggles with text. There are also limits on how many images and videos you can generate each day. I have X Premium, which may increase those limits, but I’m not entirely sure.

So far, I’ve used it sparingly. For example, in my WoW videos, I use a short AI clip of my character pointing at the start of each episode - but that’s about it. I don’t want the channel to become AI-driven content. If things grow, I’d much rather work with real artists for visuals and music, but for now that’s just not realistic or affordable.

And just to clarify: the avatar I use on social media and my gaming channel is not AI-generated - it’s a composite image I created myself on own3d.tv back in 2019.

This is the first image I attempted to animate, at first glance it looks quite convincing, but if you look carefully at the camera, you’ll see it glitch. My friend in Sale Cemetery. Original image

Ché, Jen & Pete from a group called ‘Alternative Encounters’ I met up with in Manchester over 20 years ago. Notice how she phases through the wooden post. Wonder where they are now… Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester. Original image

A photo of me in Cathedral Gardens in the early 2000s looking after my friend’s camera bag. Grok tried to add in traffic in the distance. Original image

An AI video of an AI-generated picture I made as a test avatar for the gaming channel.

Tom, my tutor, Susan and me at my college graduation ceremony. This turned out quite well. Original image

A photo of our dog wearing a hoodie turned into a video, quite impressive, really captures her cuteness.

A photo I took on a trip to Leicester to meet Shell, Grok didn’t do my phone (Nokia 7110) very well, it added buttons on the slidy bit where there are none. Original image

Was quite impressed with this one, how the papers on the table move slightly when touched and some of the background greenery moves in the breeze. You can also see the remaining contents of the glass rippling. Photo taken at the Axe & Cleaver, Dunham, Cheshire. My friend was arranging his driving lessons/test. 15th Septemper 2003. Original image

An avatar I am currently using for my electronics channel.

Photo of me (taken by Tom I think) in the refectory/canteen at my old college. Original image had a yellowish tint to it, makes me look jaundiced. Original image

My very talented Mum knitted a doll for my niece, think she’s called Coraline. I quite like the unsettling stop motion type animation of the doll.

I tried animating this photo of Ricky Gervais taken when he was in Seona Dancing, before his comedy career.

I think I took this on my laptop webcam or maybe my phone, not sure, but this was a long time ago, look how cute my dog is, weirdly when I animated this it made me look like a child, I was in my 20s when I took this!

I made a green screen screenshot of my WoW character in the Narcissus addon and animated it, I told Grok to add the text. I used this is part of the intro to my WoW questing videos.

Another image I made in Grok and animated. Looks ok, wish the background was green, though.

One of my WoW wallpapers of a Night Elf riding on a sabercat mount. Really liked how this turned out, just wish it was longer!

Wallpaper of WoW character Kira Songshine who paths between Stormwind and Goldshire. Again, really liked this one.

Okay, I don’t want this page to get too heavy in terms of bandwidth, so I’ll leave it there for now, I will make another post with more videos soon. I was pretty impressed with Grok Imagine, I just wish it handled text better and the clips were longer! It’ll be interesting to see if and how this AI technology progresses in the next couple of years.

Turn your own photos into videos at grok.com/imagine.