Vogue’s AI Model Sparks Backlash | Fast Five Shorts
Fashion meets artificial intelligence in the most controversial way possible! This segment from the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Simbe, Mirakl, Infios, Clear Demand, and Ocampo Capital, explores the backlash Vogue faced for featuring AI-generated models in a Guess advertisement.
Chris and Anne debate whether critics need to "take a chill pill" or if high fashion magazines should draw the line at artificial beauty. Discover the complex ethics of AI in fashion and what it means for brand authenticity in the digital age.
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For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/pB45J7EFcCI
#VogueAI #FashionAI #AIModels #FashionControversy #DigitalModels #RetailEthics
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Transcript
A Guess ad featuring an AI generated model appeared in Vogue magazine's August issue.
Speaker A:And critics say it looks, quote, cheap and desperate.
Speaker A:Sounds like my kind of model.
Speaker A:According to Fast Company, in the August print edition of the magazine, a Guess advertisement features an almost too perfect model wearing a striped dress and a floral playsuit from the brand's summer collection in very small print.
Speaker A:There's a note saying that she was created using AI While Vogue states that the AI model was not an editorial decision, the fashion magazine has still faced considerable backlash online.
Speaker A:Some critics have gone so far as to call it the, quote, downfall of Vogue.
Speaker A:And do you think the critics of Vogue surrounding their AI models need to take a chill pill or do you think they have a point?
Speaker B:I don't know that that's the question I would ask.
Speaker B:I think what you have to think about when it comes to AI models and when and where those are appropriate, you have to think back to something that Chad Lusk said on our show a few weeks ago.
Speaker B:And that is, is it right for your brand?
Speaker B:AI models do not make sense for every brand.
Speaker B:In fact, a lot of brands, especially high fashion brands, it will be important and almost necessary for their success for them to use real models to show diversity, to show their commitments to, to keeping these photo shoots and these product shoots pure and truly representative of their whole brand mission.
Speaker B:It will have to be unreal models.
Speaker B:That said, there are some use cases where this makes sense.
Speaker B:I think.
Speaker B:I don't know that there's a binary answer to this.
Speaker B:I think there's some especially smaller retailers who it.
Speaker B:It's the choice between, you know, a lay down on white where you don't get to see the product on anyone, or an AI model that may be representative of a multitude of sizes, you know, or, or forms or figures or 3D models.
Speaker B:So they're trying to show it on somebody as a real body.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And they can't.
Speaker B:Those brands can't afford to do photo shoots and can't afford to hire models.
Speaker B:And this is the direction that things are going in.
Speaker B:So I, I think that in this particular use case, the Guess brand thought that it was appropriate.
Speaker B:They're paying Vogue money.
Speaker B:Vogue didn't have to take their money.
Speaker B:Vogue could have said, no, you can't use AI models in here.
Speaker B:That's an editorial decision based on Vogue.
Speaker B:And I think readers will support Vogue or support the brands that choose to use AI models or not.
Speaker B:And that's the real thing here that people have to be thinking about.
Speaker B:So that's, that's My, my assessment of this, I, I don't like it.
Speaker B:But, but that's my personal opinion, so I don't have to support that brand.
Speaker B:But what do you think about AI?
Speaker A:Yeah, well, so I want to make sure I understand too.
Speaker A:So going back to the question, so if you were Vogue, would you be allowing AI models in your advertisements?
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker A:Or in your magazine at all?
Speaker B:I don't think you can ask that question.
Speaker B:Like, Vogue is a.
Speaker B:There's a.
Speaker B:There's so much to that.
Speaker B:Like, can Vogue withstand being a magazine if they don't allow it?
Speaker B:Like, can they need this, this advertiser revenue?
Speaker B:So I, I don't think that.
Speaker B:And I think an advertisement is different than Vogue actually using AI models for their editorial content.
Speaker B:Like that, to me seems fraught with error because that is an art.
Speaker B:Vogue is an art form, an art magazine showing style, showing fashion.
Speaker B:I think if you are going to start using AI models for that, then, no, that doesn't work for you as a platform.
Speaker B:And I don't think you have success as a magazine if you start going in that direction.
Speaker A:So you're okay if they use it as an advertisement.
Speaker A:You're not okay if they use it in their own generated.
Speaker B:I don't think they have a choice.
Speaker B:I think they have to allow people to use it as an advertisement because they need advertisers to keep a magazine going.
Speaker B:That's an industry that's slowly, slowly dying.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:I go in the opposite direction.
Speaker A:No, I mean, I think your point about brand is right.
Speaker A:And, you know, that's ultimately what the decision you have to make.
Speaker A:And so I think if you're Vogue and you're celebrating high design and real beauty, then you can't, you just can't do this.
Speaker A:And that's how you separate yourself.
Speaker A:And that's why you get people to come to Vogue.
Speaker A:And you're very overt about it and you talk about it because if you don't do it, somebody else will.
Speaker A:And there's niches for everything.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And if you're like.
Speaker A:But to your point, I hear what you're saying too.
Speaker A:Like, if you're guessing this works for you or the countless other retailers out there in which people can't tell the difference anyway, then sure, why not?
Speaker A:But if Vogue, if Vogue is what it is, you know, in my opinion, they shouldn't be letting that type of advertisement in.
Speaker A:But you have to go at the ultimate.
Speaker A:End of the day, you have to go with your brand.
Speaker A:Now there's all these complexities to this too.
Speaker A:Like, what is an AI model?
Speaker A:Is it the person?
Speaker A:Is it the background?
Speaker A:You know, where do you draw the line?
Speaker A:I think that's where there's a whole host of other questions that come surrounding this.
Speaker A:And, and you know, I'm not as.
Speaker A:I'm not as big as a, as a.
Speaker A:What's the word I'm looking for?
Speaker A:I'm not as big of a.
Speaker A:Of a stentorian, I guess, for lack of a better way to say it, or a rule follower on the backgrounds and stuff.
Speaker A:But if you're using the real people and you're celebrating real beauty, I think so.
Speaker A:It depends though, like, if you're like a travel magazine, you shouldn't be using AI backgrounds in your travel magazines really either, you know, at the end of the day.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Well, and I think, I think where do you draw the line at AI?
Speaker B:Like, is Photoshop considered AI?
Speaker B:Are you.
Speaker B:Is that if you Photoshop image on a shoot from Travel and Leisure magazine, like, every one of those photos, real, human or not, in the majority of cases, are retouched.
Speaker B:And that's, in today's world, a use of AI, I think the most important thing.
Speaker A:So then we're going down the chill pill.
Speaker A:We're going down the chill pill avenue.
Speaker A:Like these critics need to take a chill pill.
Speaker B:I mean, I, I think, I think the real line is when you are showing what we appear to think is a human being that is not a real human being.
Speaker B:I think that's where you start to draw the line.
Speaker B:And I think the most important takeaway for me of this whole thing is just actually applauding Vogue for noting that this was an AI image.
Speaker B:I think that's the biggest thing to take away here.
Speaker B:Like in four.
Speaker B:I. I guess my I. I have less of a problem, I think, because they're noting that they're watermarking this picture as this is an AI generated image.
Speaker A:You decide what you want as the reader of this.
Speaker B:But I don't think Vogue can get away from it.
Speaker B:I think they need their advertisers too much.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I don't know the business model economics of Vogue in terms of how important that is, but yeah, those are really strong points.
