H&M Launches AI-Generated Model Replicas

H&M is making waves in the fashion industry by creating AI-generated digital copies of real human models.

The AI replicas will appear in social media content and marketing materials to help the fashion retailer investigate fresh methods of product display.

Each model retains rights to their AI duplicate which they can permit other brands including H&M competitors to use for marketing activities, as first reported by Business Of Fashion (BOF).

The upcoming initiative which will begin with watermarked images marking has received conflicting responses, as the wider effects on the fashion industry remain unclear.

“Would they pay more because they’re saving on the costs of travel, for example, or less because they don’t have to be physically present?” said Sara Ziff executive director of Model Alliance, as reported by BOF.

“Maybe in very high-end or high fashion, there’s going to be a niche where the actual on-figure shooting is still going on, but for the rest of us, I think it’s going to be tough,” said to BOF, hair and makeup artist Virna Smiraldi, who suspects she recently worked on a shoot for AI-generated imagery.

Additionally, Industry professionals express concern that the practice might diminish employment opportunities available to photographers, makeup artists and stylists who traditionally contribute to fashion photography, as reported by BBC.

The first model Vilma Sjöberg reported to BOF feeling both thrilled and disturbed when her digital duplicate was produced. The AI-generated duplicate of her appearance proved so realistic that her boyfriend struggled to tell the digital image from a genuine photograph.

Through the creation of her digital twin Mathilda Gvarliani discovered that she could accept additional projects without suffering from travel fatigue, as reported by BBC.

Jörgen Andersson who serves as H&M’s Chief Creative Officer underlined that AI represents an unavoidable aspect of what is to come.

“We saw that as a way, as a big player in the industry, to lead a conversation that takes the model, the agency and the best interest of the fashion industry into consideration,” he said, as reported by BOF.

According to BOF, H&M declared that models would receive a similar compensation structure for their digital twins just like their physical images while addressing worries about employment reduction.

Business developer Louise Lundquist from H&M argued that the AI twins are seen as a complement to the models’ real-life counterparts, not a replacement. “It’s a new revenue stream,” she said as reported by BOF

According to BOF, Ziff noted that there are legal questions about who owns the digital replica — the model or their agent — and which one the client negotiates and contracts with. Lundquist said the models H&M works with have full ownership of their digital twins, but other companies could be less scrupulous.

Fashion companies adopting AI technology are now demanding enhanced protections for worker rights which address digital replica ownership as well as fair payment for digital duplicates.

Paul W Fleming, general secretary for the UK’s performing arts and entertainment trade union Equity,  said that models should have full control over their likeness and fair pay for its use, as reported by the BBC.

Fleming, told CNN that AI Twins integration must be “backed up by the widespread adoption of AI protections in union agreements and legislation that protects workers’ rights,” of which he added are very scarce.

“The race to ‘innovate’ in the area of artificial intelligence must also not be a race to the bottom to increase profits,” he stated to CNN. “Artificial intelligence would not be possible without human artistry and labour, and humans should remain at the centre of creative endeavours,” he added