Google Gemini’s “Nano Banana” AI-generated Bollywood Saree Trend: Viral Appeal, Privacy Alarms, and Technical Realities
The Google Gemini Nano Banana AI saree trend has swept through Instagram and social media, transforming countless selfies into vintage Bollywood-style portraits—while at the same time, experts and officials are raising significant privacy and safety concerns about the viral craze.
What Is the Nano Banana AI Saree Trend?
Google’s Gemini app, using the “Nano Banana” feature, lets users upload selfies and apply detailed prompts describing saree colors, draping styles, and lighting to convert their photos into glamorous 90s-inspired Bollywood poster images. The edits are renowned for their flowing chiffon sarees, golden-hour glow, grainy textures, and dramatic poses, evoking a sense of cinematic nostalgia.
Users can create personalized, stylized images with just a prompt and a selfie.
Variations include 3D figurine effects, but saree edits are the trend’s most viral format.
The Creepy Side: Unsettling User Experiences
As the trend gained momentum, some users reported disturbing results. The most widely shared case comes from Instagram user Jhalakbhawani, who found her AI-generated saree image featuring a mole on her left hand—a detail not visible in her uploaded photo but accurate in real life. This incident sparked widespread debate and concern, as other users noticed AI-generated modifications that appeared to infer or “reveal” hidden personal features or tattoos.
Many described the experience as “creepy” or “scary,” questioning how the AI inferred invisible personal details.
Privacy Risks and Safety Concerns
Law enforcement and cybersecurity experts, including IPS officer VC Sajjanar, have issued public warnings cautioning against uploading sensitive images to such AI platforms. Authorities fear misuse of personal data, identity theft, and targeted fraud, especially as fraudulent apps mimicking the original Gemini tool begin to appear.
Sajjanar emphasized that sharing personal details online or through unauthorized apps can lead to bank fraud or long-term misuse of biometric facial data.
Gemini’s terms allow uploaded photos to be used for AI training, which may present additional privacy issues in the future.
Market Impact and Technical Safeguards
The viral trend has catapulted the Gemini app to the top of the app store charts, overtaking ChatGPT and generating millions of downloads. In response to authenticity and safety demands, Google embeds an invisible SynthID digital watermark and metadata in all AI-generated images produced by Gemini. This watermark is intended to help platforms and users distinguish AI creations from real photos.
SynthID works by embedding statistical patterns directly into generated images or text, detectable using Google’s own tools.
However, experts caution that watermarking is not a complete solution. Most users and platforms do not have access to the tools needed to detect or verify these watermarks.
Detection tools for the SynthID watermark are not yet publicly available.
Conclusion
While Google’s Gemini Nano Banana AI tool has set new trends in creative self-expression, it also highlights the thin line between digital fun and privacy risk. As innovations in AI art sweep social media, vigilance and informed caution are crucial for safe participation in viral online trends.