Elon Musk’s X is rolling out automatic translation feature: What it means for users

Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is rolling out an automatic post translation feature worldwide that will be powered by Grok – its AI chatbot. The aim is to enable users read posts that are shared in language they don’t understand, essentially help in boosting user engagement on the Elon Musk-owned company.

The feature comes alongside AI-powered photo editor. Both new features are powered by xAI’s Grok models, seen as a push by the company to improve the overall in-app experience for its global user base.

Breaking down language barrier with automatic translation

Late Tuesday, X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, announced that automatic translation is rolling out to users across the globe. Instead of manually clicking to translate a post, X will now convert foreign languages into your native tongue as you scroll.For example, if you have seen posts in different languages like Arabic, Hindi or any other regional language that you are not familiar with, the feature will translate it into English, helping posts reach a much larger, global audience.However, if you prefer to read certain languages in their original text, X gives you an easy opt-out. Users can simply tap on the gear icon located on any translated post and toggle off the automatic translation for that specific language.

“We're rolling out auto-translate worldwide to give posts in any language global reach on X. The translations are powered by Grok and have improved substantially over the last couple months. If you prefer to read in the original language, you can always turn off auto-translate by tapping the gear icon,” Bier said in a post on X.

‘Grok-powered’ image editor

Alongside the translation update, X is also rolling out a brand-new image editor, currently available for its iOS app. This includes standard creative tools, such as drawing and text overlays, and also introduces several advanced features designed for both privacy and fun. For example:The Blur tool, a privacy feature that allows users to easily hide sensitive details before posting.

Users can quickly blur out faces, license plates or confidential information like credit card and Social Security numbers.The second is natural language editing, that allows users to edit their photos simply by talking to the AI in a natural language. Users can type a prompt like, “display this photo as a painting in a museum,” and Grok will automatically generate that exact aesthetic for you. According to TechCrunch, X has confirmed that it plans to bring these creative updates to the Android app soon.