Fictional 'Miss AI' slammed by women in industry

When AI is taking over everything, then why should fashion be far behind.

An influencer platform named Fanvue recently organized an AI beauty pageant and announced the first "Miss AI" -- Kenza Layli, a fictional Instagram influencer with over 20,000 followers.

Fanvue is a content creator platform which allows users to send AI messages and AI voice notes to increase subscriber or follower base. The firm has been featured in several mainstream media, including Forbes and Business Insider.

The pageant was highly criticised by women in the AI space.

"Yet another steppingstone on the road to objectifying women with AI. As a woman working in this field, I'm unsurprised but disappointed," Dr Sasha Luccioni, Climate lead at Hugging Face, told Ars Technica.

Since image synthesising tools like Synthesis Diffusion have been made free, there has been an increase in AI-generated influencers. The tool has made it easy for users to create provocative images of women on demand.

Smartphone app LensaAI elicited similar sentiments of shock and awe, when the app helped users generate sexualized image of a woman in the Lensa avatar feature.

"In a field with such a glaring lack of gender diversity, it's unsurprising that it has come to using AI generating images of what ideal women look like," said Luccioni.

The pageant, which is a part of the "World AI Creator Awards" (WAICAS), was apparently designed in such a way that even criticism works as publicity for the company and help it monetise and gain online attention.

Even CNN referred to AI-generated influencers as a real human.

In the CNN article, titled 'The first Miss AI has been crowned and she’s a Moroccan lifestyle influencer,' fashion journalist Jacqui Palumbo wrote, "Meet Kenza Layli, a Moroccan lifestyle influencer who hopes to bring 'diversity and inclusivity' to the AI creator landscape."

She added, "With nearly 200,000 Instagram followers and a further 45,000 on TikTok, Layli is entirely AI-generated, from her images to her captions and buzzword-filled acceptance speech."

Layli was created by Myriam Bessa, a founder of Phoenix AI agency, who will reportedly receive a cash prize of $5,000 for the win.

"This was meant to empower AI creators? But then the winner was AI-generated? Are these creators or AI-generated people? Or just 'Kenza' is AI-generated, and she won, but the others aren't? What is going on?" Dr Margerette Mitchell, an AI ethics researcher, said on the contest.

According to Mitchell, the AI-generated influencer reinforces the pre-existing beauty standards, the same problem caused by human influencers.

"I shudder to think at the harm this will do to girls' self-images. When unrealistic standards of femininity are rewarded, girls becoming women look at themselves in the mirror and see all the ways they don't measure up. Up next: Massive increase in sketchy skin products, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia amongst young teens," Mitchell added.

Image Source: Unsplash