‘This is war on art, fashion, and culture.’ These were the damning words circulating on social media this week when it transpired that an AI model had appeared in the pages of Vogue.
Produced by an AI marketing company, an advert for Guess in the August US issue depicts a woman with flawless blonde curls, a tan and a slim, toned figure carrying a bag by the designer. In the adjacent photograph, she’s enjoying a coffee while wearing a blue and white floral jumpsuit.
All very human things to be papped doing, right? Wrong. An eagle eye will find a disclosure written in the small print that reads: ‘produced by Seraphinne Vallora on AI.’
Though Vogue itself hasn’t directly deployed the use of AI over human models first-hand, it has seemingly approved an advert which does.
Seraphinne Vallora was born after its founders saw a ‘gap in the market.’ At its core, it wants to ‘harness the incredible power of AI to revolutionise marketing images,’ arguing that the technology offers a ‘cost-effective, hassle-free path to design brilliance.’
‘We’re passionate about one thing: helping companies thrive and flourish in the digital age. AI is more than just technology; it’s a glimpse into the future of business,’ the website adds.
‘We bring your brand’s vision to life without the effort and cost of travel and hiring models.’
And as well as appearing in Vogue, the company’s Instagram bio says it’s made it into Elle, Grazia, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Harper’s Bazaar.
The extent of the AI use is unclear in this particular ad – is it based on a shoot with a real woman, or toally fiction? The fact that readers do not know has in itself been deemed dystopian.
‘AI should never be used in a creative space where only HUMANS can replicate artwork,’ one TikToker wrote, adding that there is ‘no LIFE. no LOVE in the work.’
Another added that ‘fashion is supposed to be art,’ while others reflected concerns that ‘art is at the core of what it means to be human’ – something which a computer will never be able to truly understand.
So, is AI going to become the future of the fashion industry? If so, what does it mean for beauty standards?
‘Using AI models is harmful for everyone’
Leanne Maskell, a former model and the author of The Reality Manifesto, isn’t surprised that AI is slowly seeping into the fashion industry.
In her view, AI models aren’t hugely different from the beauty standard that’s already been normalised – they’re just ‘cheaper.’
Leanne first appeared in Vogue when she was 13, and she has first-hand experience of the fashion industry being built on simply ‘unattainable’ beauty standards.
On virtually every shoot she did across the course of her 15-year career, she had professional makeup, lighting and Photoshop, and her clothes were ‘pinned at the back to fit better’ – and this is an illusion she feels has only intensified as technology has become more all-encompassing in our daily lives.
‘Many influencers now undergo undisclosed cosmetic procedures that drastically alter their appearance, then promote these looks as natural or achievable – often through unregulated, paid advertisements,’ she tells Metro.
And so, she sees AI models taking this concept even further, creating ‘impossible’ standards by centring people who, quite literally, don’t exist.
‘Many AI models are trained using real models’ images, often without consent. This reflects a deeper truth: real models already have little to no control over how their bodies and faces are used,’ Leanne explains.
‘Using AI models is harmful for everyone – not just for working models, or those hoping to break into the industry, but for anybody aspiring to be “beautiful” in a world where the goalposts are constantly moving out of reach.’
And, if this trend continues, Leanne fears that creative industries – including modelling – will begin to collapse. She only hopes that it’ll trigger a ‘much-needed conversation about who – and what – is being held up on a pedestal in our society before it’s too late.’
‘People who are deemed perfect are still not perfect enough’
Dr Helena Lewis-Smith is a health psychology researcher at the University of the West of England, specialising in body image. In her opinion, the ethics of image altering has been ‘blurry’ ever since adverts started to be airbrushed out in magazines.
One study she worked on found that, despite some countries legally requiring companies to state when photos had been airbrushed, this still had little to no impact on consumers. They weren’t likely to feel any better about themselves, and Helena feels a similar way about AI.
‘The damage is already done, because you’re being told what is deemed perfect,’ she says, noting that the situation started to worsen when it became the norm to edit selfies posted on social media. Since then, society has been on a ‘slippery slope.’
As such, Helena isn’t surprised that AI is now being used in the modelling sphere, but she does feel saddened by it. It’s almost inevitable that we’ve reached this point.
‘Models, they are in the top 1% of all demographics of women that have those very unique body ratios and dimensions, and the fact that even they are airbrushed suggests to us that those people who are deemed perfect are still not perfect enough,’ she says.
‘Using AI will have a damaging effect, and it’s still portraying this unattainable beauty standard.’
She’s also concerned that the use of AI could disrupt any progress that the industry has made in moving away from overrepresenting Eurocentric, thin ideals of beauty, a situation that’s only been worsening with the normalisation of weight loss injections.
The clock is being turned back on body positivity; low-rise jeans and ‘skinny’ core are back in fashion.
Helena feels that we’re now in a situation where, like so many others, models could end up losing their jobs to AI – and crumbling under the pressure of comparison.
‘It’s only going to encourage them, alongside the general public, to alter their bodies more to align with what they’re seeing in AI,’ she believes.
That said, she holds hope that society can fight back against the use of AI in the beauty industry, whether by incorporating it into school curricula or simply reclaiming the narrative.
‘We could be trying to educate and give people that resilience and media literacy to understand why this is happening, and that what they’re selling us isn’t actually real and we shouldn’t be buying into it,’ she concludes.
‘We should be focusing on our qualities, and buying clothing that makes us feel good, not that we see on a model that’s not even real.’
Metro has contacted Seraphinne Vallora, Guess and Vogue for comment.
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