Grok bikini trend on X escalates from Musk's joke to serious privacy violations

Sickening Photo Trend on X Sees Women's Clothing Being Removed by Grok

At the beginning of this week, PetaPixel reported that Elon Musk's X had rolled out a controversial new feature allowing users to edit any photo on the platform without asking permission. Within days, the new tool has been abused -- and it is women who are being targeted. British journalist Samantha Smith shared a screenshot in which an anonymous user had requested that Grok, X's AI bot, remove her clothing and put her in a bikini. "How is this not illegal?" Smith writes. Smith followed up this post by saying: "I've seen countless comments asking Grok to edit images of children in disgusting ways." She calls the trend "sick." As of Friday, many more women are speaking up about this issue. Australian rapper Iggy Azalea said, "Grok seriously needs to go." Indian politician Priyanka Chaturvedi has written a letter to her government about this issue. "Have sought urgent attention and intervention of Hon. IT Minister to take the issue of increasing incidents of AI apps being prompted to sexualise and undress women by unauthorised use of their images on social media. There have to be guardrails put in place by features such as Grok that do not violate women's dignity, big tech firms need to take the onus," she writes on X. The bikini trend began with famous figures; Musk himself asked Grok to put him in a bikini. But it quickly snowballed to non-famous people. Digit reports that there have been instances where users have been uploading photos that weren't on the platform just so they can ask it for a bikini picture. Some people have attempted to defend the trend by saying that there are plenty of other "nudify" apps on the internet. But as I wrote on Monday, "while any picture posted on the internet can potentially be manipulated or edited with AI tools, the convenience of X's latest tool is clearly a concern." At the time, I was writing about concern for photographers and artists whose work could be changed without authorization. But it has become something far more sinister. X will hopefully rein Grok in.

Elon Musk falls victim to Grok's bikini trend on X, replies Perfect to AI-generated bikini image of himself

The trend has reopened debates on consent, online behaviour, and how easily AI tools can be misused without clear limits. Social media trends can suddenly emerge out of nowhere; though most of them are funny, some of them might take a disturbing turn. One such disturbing social media trend is taking place on the platform X (formerly Twitter), where people started asking AI models to create pictures of famous public figures in bikinis. It received further momentum when the CEO of X himself, Elon Musk, was caught participating in this trend by asking his AI model named Grok to create a picture of himself wearing a bikini. Furthermore, when the image appeared, Musk responded positively and joked about it. It also appears that since Musk asked Grok to make his image in a bikini, it has somehow encouraged more users to join the trend. As the trend didn't stop with Musk, but on the contrary, more users soon began asking for similar images of other famous people, including tech leaders like Bill Gates. It even gained popularity in India, where users requested similar images of Bollywood stars. Also read: GTA 6 delayed to 2027? Viral rumours spark panic as insiders shut down claims As the trend grew, many users further began asking Grok to create bikini images of women who aren't even public figures. In some cases, people uploaded real photos and asked the AI to change or remove clothing, and this was exactly the point where the concerns grew louder. Altering images like this can go from humour to harassment quickly, and many see it as a violation of personal dignity, especially when images are edited without consent. Also read: No iPhone 18 launch in 2026? Leaks suggest Apple may delay it to early 2027 The trend has divided the internet in two halves, as some people argue that the trend is just for fun since it involves public figures and shouldn't be taken seriously. They further believe that the outrage is unnecessary, and if people don't like the content, they should simply ignore it. However, others half believe that the issue is more serious, as it breaches privacy, diminishes the concept of consent and, more importantly, raises concerns over the use of AI. Also read: Motorola Signature India launch date, specs, price, design and all other leaks Furthermore, this trend has also reignited the debate about online behaviour and how AI should be used. AI tools like Grok can be incredibly useful when used responsibly, but it's important to remember that these AI models only do what they're programmed to do. Without clear boundaries, these tools can easily be misused. The bikini image trend on X is a recent example of this. People online have said that while technology is advancing quickly, social responsibility isn't keeping pace. Once again, it shows that common sense isn't always so common.