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Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

H&M Knows Its AI Models Will Be Controversial

The company expects public opinion to be divided on its plan to use “digital twins” of real models in AI-generated imagery. But the best way to protect models’ jobs and rights in the age of AI, it says, is to bring them into the process.
Side-by-side images show model Mathilda Gvarliani in a tank top. One is an actual photo and the other is generated by AI using Gvarliani's digital twin.
Model Mathilda Gvarliani and her digital twin. (H&M)

The first time model Vilma Sjöberg saw her digital twin, she found it both exciting and unsettling.

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Further Reading

Is There Such a Thing as Ethical AI?

Aware of the backlash other fashion and beauty players have faced, Estée Lauder is taking a slow and cautious approach to AI by putting restrictions on what it will — and won't — do with the technology.

Is Generative AI the New Fashion-Tech Bubble?

The extraordinary expectations placed on the technology have set it up for the inevitable comedown. But that’s when the real work of seeing whether it can be truly transformative begins.

About the author
Marc Bain
Marc Bain

Marc Bain is Technology Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. He is based in New York and drives BoF’s coverage of technology and innovation, from start-ups to Big Tech.

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