“This is a 12 year olds deviant art style” — Netizens react as Elon Musk encourages people to turn their photos into anime using Grok

Elon Musk, the owner of Grok, a competitor of ChatGPT, has recently joined the Studio Ghibli-inspired online trend. Musk tweeted an image in which he is portrayed as a monkey holding high the DOGE mascot. It referred to the iconic scene from The Lion King, where Rafiki, the monkey, introduces baby Simba to the other animals.

Musk's caption for the photo was "Theme of the day." He further shared one photo which was uploaded by X user @cb_doge on April 2, with a caption:

“Turn your photos into anime using Grok!”

The post contained two side-by-side images- one normal photo and one anime-style image. For context, the trend came into being after OpenAI released a new photo-generation upgrade for GPT-4o. Many users began making memes and portraits using the trend, which were inspired by Studio Ghibli's style of animation, created by Hayao Miyazaki.

Now, once the image went viral, it garnered netizens' reactions. They mostly criticised the Tesla CEO and X’s AI. One said that it looked like a deviant art style.

“Bro this is a 12 year olds deviant art style I'm f*cking dying,” wrote one X user.

X user reacts to art made on Grok.

Others also said similar things as they mostly criticized the AI feature and said that it can’t match up to OpenAI's new image generator.

“Turn your photos into anime using Grok! with 100% facial mismatch,” an X user wrote sarcastically.

“@Grok isn't the use of AI for anime style version of images stealing from the animators job that did it?” one criticised.

“ChatGPT seems better,” one stated.

Additionally, others echoed the same sentiment as they condemned Musk. One said that the feature looked desperate, while another one said that it was "useless".

“Gonna be honest... This looks so desperate lmao OAI is just better with image generation. It's that simple,” commented another user.

“You are the richest man on earth and does the most useless things on earth with all those money. No good contribution to the world,” said another X user.

“Can we all agree this looks terrible? Lol,” said another X user.

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Grok started an anime trend just like ChatGPT

The trend of AI images inspired by Studio Ghibli has gone viral on the internet. People have been using AI techniques to turn their images into Ghibli-style artwork as a result of this viral phenomenon.

The renowned Studio Ghibli films of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, who produced movies like Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro, served as the inspiration for these pictures.

Only ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and a few other membership tiers can utilize this feature. Free-tier users can also do that, however, they can't generate more than two to three pictures in 24 hours.

However, users can use other platforms to create these effects in addition to the popular ChatGPT. A free AI tool called Grok, powered by X, can turn the photos into Ghibli-style pictures. Users have the option to upload an image or request that the chatbot reinvent it in a specific style.

For starters, they must first download the particular app or website. After that, users can click on the paperclip icon to upload the appropriate image. Additionally, they can use a text prompt to design the image.

Lastly, a prompt explaining the Ghibli transformation for the image must be entered. For instance:

"A Studio Ghibli-style illustration of a serene countryside with cherry blossoms and whimsical characters."

Grok will process their request in a matter of seconds after they submit it. If necessary, they can also make adjustments to the image using Grok's built-in tools. After they are happy with the image, they can download and distribute their Ghibli-style picture.

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Grok is available for free on the Google store or Apple App store.