Opinion The AI Sari trend is everywhere — but who controls the images?

The sari goes viral — again

The sari has never been just a garment. It is continuity, elegance, and sometimes defiance. That the sari now finds a new avatar through AI is hardly surprising. In an era of instant filters and digital reimaginings, the sari still emerges as the costume of choice when users dream of glamour, heritage, and beauty. In other words, when technology lets us become anyone, many still choose to become sari-clad versions of themselves. That says something about the garment’s enduring hold.

Beyond play: the risks we ignore

Yet, these edits raise troubling questions.

First, privacy and autonomy. Users expect only drapes to change, but AI often alters more. It changes skin tone, removes blemishes, and even adds features that weren’t there. These shifts may seem small, but they point to a larger loss of control once our likeness is handed to an algorithm.

Second, distortion. AI smooths, brightens, idealises. A woman’s AI sari portrait may look more symmetrical, more flawless, more “perfect” than real life. Over time, that gap between mirror and machine image can erode self-perception. Social media already pressures young people with impossible beauty standards; AI doesn’t just add to that — it supercharges it, and cloaks it in cultural legitimacy by wrapping it in a sari.

Why this matters now

Some say: Isn’t this just fun? Why overthink it? But to dismiss it is to miss the larger shift. We are entering an era where AI doesn’t just assist us — it actively reshapes how we imagine ourselves. Unlike fashion magazines, which show us curated ideals, AI shows you, perfected. That is far more seductive — and far harder to resist.

This also arrives at a critical moment: India is at the forefront of global debates on AI governance, digital identity, and creative industries. Fashion is not a sideshow in this debate, but a frontline. How we play with AI saris today could shape how we think about avatars, deepfakes, and even biometric security tomorrow.

Between empowerment and exploitation

Not all of this is grim. For many women — especially those who don’t wear saris in daily life — these AI edits offer more than play. They provide a way to reclaim heritage on their own terms. A garment they might have once associated with rituals or social expectations becomes a matter of choice. For diasporic users, the digital sari can be a bridge to cultural roots; for younger ones, a chance to try on elegance without expense or judgment.

In this sense, the sari’s AI afterlife can feel empowering. It lets women see themselves draped in tradition without constraint, to experiment with identity in a space they control. But empowerment without safeguards quickly slips into exploitation. Once an AI sari image circulates, who owns it — the user, the platform, or the algorithm? With no clear answers, people risk losing control over their most personal possession: Their image. And without accountability, the same tools that liberate can just as easily be weaponised — to distort, to harass, to erase consent.

The sari in the age of AI

What does this viral experiment reveal? That in the age of algorithms, our yearnings remain human. We long for beauty, tradition, belonging — and the sari continues to carry that weight, whether in fabric or pixels. But we also long for control, trust, and authenticity. That is where AI, for all its promise, falters.

Fashion has always been about transformation, about becoming who we wish to be. AI accelerates that. The challenge is ensuring that in draping ourselves digitally, we don’t unravel something more vital: Our agency, our authenticity, our right to decide how we appear in the world.

A choice before us

The AI sari trend will fade, as all trends do. But the questions it raises will sharpen. As we stand at the intersection of heritage and technology, the sari once again becomes a mirror — not just of femininity or elegance, but of how we negotiate identity in a world increasingly shaped by machines.

Even in a pixelated future, the choice of how we drape ourselves — in fabric or in code — must remain ours.

The writer is Associate Professor, IILM University, Gurugram