Barbie-inspired AI journal cowl sparks controversy By Joseph Foley revealed 20 July 23 It took ’20 minutes’ to make, apparently

2 months ago 3 min read

One other day, one other AI artwork controversy. Textual content-to-image turbines are more and more getting into mainstream use, and that is now extending to the covers of vogue magazines. Scorching on the heels of the very unusual Vogue Bella Hadid AI cowl, Glamour is the most recent to make use of AI-generated imagery as an alternative of conventional vogue images for a canopy picture.

A Barbie-inspired cowl for the July version of Glamour in Bulgaria options mannequin and swimsuit designer Lisa Opie. Solely it is not actually her. And the garments do not exist both. The picture was generated completely by an AI picture generator.

The design, one in every of a number of covers created for the July 2023 Bulgarian version of Glamour, was a proposal from Opie herself. She instructed the New York Submit that she wished to do a “futuristic Barbie theme, as a result of, to start with, Barbie is, like, my way of life and it’s who I’m. And with the ‘Barbie’ film popping out, it was excellent.”

Her stylist, Joey Rolon, found a picture of Barbie carrying a breastplate, and Opie determined she wished that look. But it surely turned out that the photograph was an AI picture generated by the digital creator behind the Instagram account @ai_fashion_photos.

“So I simply despatched her a DM, and I used to be like, ‘Hey, I really like your futuristic Barbie AI pictures. Is there any means you could possibly incorporate my face right into a attainable journal cowl?; Opie mentioned. “I didn’t say what it was for, however she was, like, ‘Certain, let’s chat.’ In order that’s how it began.”

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Opie despatched footage of herself from each angle, wearing pink so the AI artwork generator would choose up the color (Picture credit score: Glamour Bulgaria / Lisa Opie)

Opie says she despatched footage of her face from each angle, and that the digital artist got here again with round 50 potential pictures in simply 20 minutes. “It was tremendous, tremendous straightforward, and it was actually enjoyable, as a result of generally it could generate issues that you simply wouldn’t even consider, however you prefer it higher than what your authentic thought was,” Opie says – though she admits that “they did edit the images slightly bit, simply to boost them [and] make them look slightly bit extra like me.”

However is it vogue imagery? In spite of everything, the garments depicted do not exist. Whereas there are many emoji flames and hearts on Opie’s Instagram posts concerning the cowl, some persons are aghast. “Simply once you assume it might’t get any extra faux, this occurs,” one individual wrote. “It’s an insult to vogue designers, hair/make-up artists, photographers and fashions,” another person commented.

Whereas Opie recognised issues about AI artwork, she claimed the tech has one missed profit: much less waste. “I understand how a lot waste goes into productions and vogue exhibits and photograph shoots,” she mentioned. “Even simply the backdrops, making a set, flying everyone out. So I feel it’ll be a extremely great way to assist the setting with completely zero waste going into manufacturing.”

Opie says she makes use of AI turbines for her personal swimwear companies however admits that she is worried after individuals she is aware of had been subjected to the creation of AI-generated faux nudes. ”They may should concentrate on laws to simply maintain it beneath management, as a result of there’s a grey space there,” she says. “I feel that folks do should be protected as a result of AI is such a wild, wild West proper now.”

This is not the primary AI-generated journal cowl we have seen. In addition to Vogue Italy’s Bella Hadid cowl, which mixed conventional vogue images and AI, the French digicam journal Réponses Picture used a 100% AI-generated picture on the duvet of 1 version to boost consciousness of the affect the expertise may have on images. We have additionally lately seen AI deepfake expertise transfer individuals to tears in a brand new Volkswagen advert.