AI in Fashion: What Will It Mean for Fashion and Society?

AI in Vogue, Shocking the World – In Vogue’s August issue, the brand Guess featured a female model in its section. This said model has the appearance of a Northern American woman, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a flawless look. The catch? This “model” is actually AI-generated. This issue of Vogue US made history as the first time an AI-generated model was featured in the magazine.

This controversial move was backed up by Seraphinne Vallora, the creator of the AI model advertisement. In an interview with BBC, founders Valentina Gonzales and Andrea Petrescu state that they were approached by Paul Marciano, the co-founder of Guess, and were requested to create the models featured in their advert.

Andreea and Valentina, Co-Founders of Seraphinne Vallora / BBC

While the creators of the AI model argued that this move will forever revolutionise the fashion industry, in reality, I don’t think they will receive the reaction they hope from their audience. If anything, I consider their actions harmful to the public. I see their move as something controversial and has negative implications. This is evident, as they have already received negative reactions from the public.

With AI becoming more prominent, people are becoming more and more worried about their future, particularly in terms of both their identity and their livelihood. Both of these aspects are being affected and even threatened by Vogue’s sudden move to add AI models to its issue. 

AI Replacing Humans in the Workforce / Forbes

Living in a society with unrealistic beauty standards promoted by celebrities and influencers, the general public already struggles to keep up with these standards. Despite the body positivity and acceptance movement thriving, these beauty standards continue to engrave themselves in the minds of the public. I see posts and articles of people still struggling with acceptance. And now enters a tall, blonde and blue-eyed model with the absence of blemish in her appearance, made by an AI prompt. This further reinforces these unfair and unrealistic beauty standards.

Another issue to tackle is livelihood. With AI being used in every way, worries naturally follow. I, personally, have my share of worries about AI threatening to take my job. As stated by Forbes, studies show that AI has the potential to replace humans in industries like finance, research, medicine, and software development. With AI penetrating even the fashion industry, models and designers now walk on eggshells with the possibility of them being replaced by machines in their fields.

In a world where AI is becoming more and more embraced and integrated into society, how will this shocking move by Vogue and Guess affect the future of fashion?