Vice President JD Vance has revealed his use of artificial intelligence for a creative family project, joining a growing list of prominent figures experimenting with AI-generated content. In a recent podcast interview with Katie Miller, a former aide to Elon Musk, Vance disclosed that he used Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk’s xAI company, to create illustrations for a customized children’s book.
Vance and his three children—Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel—collaborated on writing their own version of the popular “Who Would Win?” children’s book series, which features illustrated battles between predatory animals like bears, tigers, and dinosaurs. For their custom “big cats” edition, Vance turned to Grok’s image generation capabilities to bring their story to life visually.
The results were surprisingly graphic, according to the Vice President. “Some of them are completely deranged,” Vance admitted, describing one image as “a jaguar with its fang through the skull of a tiger.” He characterized the AI-generated illustrations as “really gruesome,” though he noted that his children enjoyed the final product.
Despite this creative application, Vance emphasized that he’s not a regular AI user. When asked about his most recent AI search, he stated plainly: “I’m actually not a big AI guy.” This positions him differently from some politicians who have embraced AI tools like ChatGPT and Grok for speechwriting and research purposes.
Vance isn’t alone among high-profile figures using AI for children’s content. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed last year that he and his daughter August used Meta AI to generate illustrations for a book she wrote titled “The Mermaid Crystal.” This trend highlights how AI image generation tools are becoming accessible for personal creative projects, even among those who don’t consider themselves technology enthusiasts.
The disclosure comes amid ongoing debates about AI adoption in professional and political contexts. While some politicians have embraced AI tools for various tasks, others have expressed concerns about AI hallucinations—instances where AI systems generate false or misleading information—and potential cognitive decline from over-reliance on automated assistance.
Key Quotes
We actually made a ‘big cats’ version where we wrote it ourselves, but I used Grok to make the actual images.
Vice President JD Vance explained how he and his children collaborated on writing their own version of the “Who Would Win?” book series, using Elon Musk’s Grok AI specifically for the illustration component of their creative project.
Some of them are completely deranged. It’s like, a jaguar with its fang through the skull of a tiger. And it’s like, ‘This is really gruesome shit.’ But here we are. The kids loved it.
Vance candidly described the unexpectedly graphic nature of the AI-generated illustrations, highlighting both the unpredictable outputs of AI image generators and the disconnect between adult concerns and children’s entertainment preferences.
I’m actually not a big AI guy.
Despite using Grok for his children’s book project, Vance distanced himself from being a regular AI user when asked about his most recent AI searches, positioning himself as an occasional rather than habitual user of artificial intelligence tools.
Our Take
Vance’s experience with Grok reveals both the promise and challenges of consumer AI tools. The fact that a non-technical user could successfully generate book illustrations demonstrates impressive accessibility, but the “gruesome” and “deranged” outputs highlight persistent content control issues. This incident underscores a critical tension in AI development: making tools powerful enough to be useful while ensuring outputs remain appropriate for their intended context. The Vice President’s willingness to use Musk’s Grok specifically—rather than competitors like DALL-E or Midjourney—may reflect political alignment, but it also validates xAI’s positioning as a viable alternative in the generative AI space. As AI image generation becomes normalized for personal projects, questions about creative authenticity, copyright, and the role of human artistry in children’s literature will only intensify.
Why This Matters
This story illustrates the mainstream adoption of AI tools for everyday creative tasks, even among political leaders who don’t identify as technology enthusiasts. Vance’s casual use of Grok for a family project demonstrates how AI image generation has moved beyond professional applications into personal, creative spaces.
The revelation is particularly significant because it involves Grok, Elon Musk’s AI platform, which competes with established players like OpenAI’s DALL-E and Meta AI. Vance’s endorsement, even informal, provides visibility for xAI’s product in the competitive generative AI market.
More broadly, this highlights the democratization of AI-powered creative tools and their integration into family activities. When a sitting Vice President uses AI to illustrate children’s books, it signals that these technologies have achieved a level of accessibility and user-friendliness that appeals beyond tech-savvy early adopters. However, the “gruesome” nature of some generated images also raises questions about content moderation and age-appropriate AI outputs, particularly for children’s content—an ongoing challenge for AI companies developing image generation systems.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-used-grok-childrens-book-2025-8