Opinion: Late last month, Vogue featured an AI model in its pages for the very first time. The two-page ad for Guess’s summer collection sparked massive online controversy, with many pointing to how it threatens diversity and could have an impact on beauty standards. Known for their bold and innovative branding, it was just meant to be another creative experiment for the brand; so why did the AI-generated ad attract so much backlash?
It’s an inevitability the creative industry has long seen coming: artificial intelligence is here, cutting costs and giving brands more control over their shooting environments. However, the backlash to Guess’s ad proves there might be more at stake.
And this isn’t just a one-off, as is evident by the recent Mia Zelu phenomenon – her Instagram bio states she’s an ‘AI influencer’, but thousands mistook her for a real model when she shared courtside snaps from Wimbledon earlier this year.
AI models are on the rise, and the creative industry is having to confront a critical question: as technology gives us huge visual possibilities, what do we lose by stepping away from authentic human representation?
The rejection of perfection
The truth is, consumers have long been primed to expect perfection in glossy fashion editorials and across social media. The hyper-polished aesthetic previously achieved by teams of photographers, designers, makeup artists and stylists can now be replicated digitally – but there’s more to the picture. It all comes down to what consumers really want, which, according to Getty Images VisualGPS research, isn’t Hollywood glamour or airbrushed perfection – it’s real people in real settings.
Australians want to see the good, the bad, and the ugly, and our findings show that younger consumers prefer relatability to perfection. This demand for candid, unfiltered imagery and video has even sparked a new counter-trend on social media, where analogue formats like film photography are rising in popularity. Consumers are craving humanity, flaws and all. In fact, this same research reports that 72% of consumers want brands to show up with real, authentic, and diverse visual stories.
The fashion industry has built, enforced, and more recently worked to dismantle rigid beauty standards for women. For example, take the hashtag #StyleNotSize which went viral on social media, promoting the idea that fashionable clothing is for all bodies. The side-by-side comparison of two friends showcasing the same looks resonated with consumers because it’s proven that good taste isn’t just limited to one size or body type.
This is part of why seeing an AI-generated model featured in Vogue may have struck a nerve. The uncanny posing, symmetrically perfect face, and unrealistic body brought us back to a period of unattainable ideals. Our research revealed that only 7% of consumers agreed that AI-generated people should be used in advertising, and 84% said that images generated using AI cannot be considered “authentic” at all. When we asked Australians the types of visuals they like to look at daily, they said “People like me” – so it’s no wonder that unrealistic or generated beauty standards hit the wrong note.
Beyond the fine print
Any good relationship is built on trust, and this is no different between brands and consumers. Perhaps reactions to Vogue’s feature of an AI model may have been different if it were labelled clearly, but instead, its AI disclosure was easily missable in the margin between the two-page spread.
AI-generated content is already blurring the lines, making it hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. VisualGPS image testing found that 69% of people could spot at least one AI image, but a staggering 95% also mistakenly thought real images were AI-generated. What’s more is that a further 68% told us that they can’t tell whether an image is AI-generated or not.
With these tools becoming more advanced every day, trust hinges on transparency. Consumers are increasingly wary of what they see online, and 89% said that AI-generated advertisements should be labelled as such. Beyond the demand for authentic and relatable content, the backlash we are seeing stems from audiences feeling misled.
We saw the same thing when influencer marketing – the human kind – first took off. Consumers were quick to catch on when content felt ‘off’, demanding clear ‘ad’ labelling and transparency from brands. It’s now a legal requirement, and 62% of consumers agree that social media content labelled as ‘sponsored’ is more trustworthy.
Striking a balance
AI is already making its mark on the creative industry, and brands and publishers who use AI models can be perceived as being out of touch with what consumers truly want to see. While it’s undeniable that AI tools shorten lead times and streamline campaign budgets, using them without clear intent or ethical guardrails can also set a dangerous precedent for the industry.
AI-generated imagery lacks human fingerprints, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t human creatives behind the work. While it is often dehumanised by the notion that it’s simply powered by “training data,” that couldn’t be further from the truth. AI tools don’t create in a vacuum. They don’t rely solely on zeros and ones, but instead rely on the talent of real models, years of expertise from photographers, and the vision of creative directors. If the trend of replacing human creatives continues, we may eventually find that these models run out of high-quality, human-created work to train on, resulting in widespread AI ‘sloppification’ and generic content. If the fashion industry is still to be seen as a place for innovation and pushing creative boundaries, brands have a clear opportunity: use AI ethically and collaboratively to push boundaries, not erase them.
An algorithm can flawlessly render a face, but it can’t authentically capture the spontaneity, emotion, or lived experience that a human model brings to a shoot, nor deliver the level of authenticity that audiences crave. The path forward for the industry must be an ethical and transparent one, where AI is used as a collaborator rather than a replacement for human creativity and the beauty of diverse, messy, and raw representation.
Kate Rourke is the Head of Creative, Asia Pacific, for Getty Images and iStock. She sets the brands’ global content strategy and analyses visual communication trends.
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