Everything about the model is perfect: her hair, her eyes and her dress. She’s too good to be true and the good news for normal people is that she’s not real.

The image of the perfect woman has been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

When the Spanish fashion brand Mango presented its summer youth campaign using the artificial model in July, even Marco Sinervo, head of one of Germany’s largest modeling agencies, was surprised by the “fake”, as he describes the avatar.

“I didn’t realize it wasn’t a real model,” he told DPA.

He was not alone.

Some 72% of 1,000 people surveyed thought the model and clothing depicted in the image were realistic, according to a survey by market research firm Appinio.

“We use AI for our clients every day without it being noticed,” says Michael Berger, managing director of Beyond Studio, a design collective that relies heavily on AI for photo productions.

This is perhaps not surprising, as AI offers many benefits to businesses. You don’t need to travel across the world for a photo shoot, just create a background digitally, saving you time, money and the environment.

Ideally, “AI should replace the model”

For customers, it would be cheaper not to pay for a model at all, Berger says. “In the best case scenario, AI should replace the model.”

For now, however, you still need to photograph clothing and accessories on the body, because the AI ​​cannot yet represent them correctly.

This is increasingly leading to the use of so-called body models, whose heads are then digitally replaced. The process remains as expensive as conventional photography. “As soon as AI can automate this, it will become cheaper,” Berger says.

In many countries, the fashion world is increasingly relying on AI.

Take for example the German Otto Group, which says it has been using AI-generated models for product presentations since spring 2024.

Whether it’s a swimsuit on the beach or sports pants at the gym, “an AI model can be placed in different outfits and in a variety of environments in seconds,” explains a spokesperson.

Online mail order company Zalando also uses generative AI for content “primarily to create backgrounds for product photos,” the company said in response to a question.

“AI is not sexy”

Will all this make models and photographers redundant? Dark times lie ahead for the modeling industry if you ask Norbert Hansen, chairman of the board of the Association of Licensed Modeling Agencies (VELMA).

“If technical developments progress quickly, I think many agencies will no longer exist in the next few years,” he says.

Many online stores photograph countless outfits every day, focusing on the product and not the model. “These patterns could be completely replaced by AI in the long term,” believes Hansen.

But Sinervo disagrees. “AI is not sexy,” he says.

The use of AI avatars is more of a step backward than an innovation, he says. “In a superficial world where everything is moving faster and faster, people need reality.” According to him, technically generated models convey a “completely inhuman ideal of beauty”.

Brands must be “honest, accessible and authentic”, especially to attract a young target group, he says.

Axl Jansen, a fashion photographer who has photographed many stars and models, shares a similar view. “By the third or fourth AI campaign at the latest, a certain weariness will set in,” he says.

He compares the current hype around AI with previous trends in photography, which were later replaced by others.

He points out that many photographers, especially among the younger generation, are even returning to film photography. “And between you and me: what client doesn’t want authentic and legally protected images?”

Top model as AI avatar?

It is not clear who owns the rights to AI-generated images, as there are no legal regulations in this area in some countries, including Germany.

Image rights are a crucial source of income for models, who typically sell them for limited periods, Berger says.

“However, many clients want to have full rights forever and everywhere, which drives up modeling fees.”

But thanks to AI, companies could change their face in such a way that they no longer have to pay for rights.

Having their own AI avatar could allow models to “sell” themselves several times a day – and thus increase their revenue, says Berger, by making their faces available to customers in digital form, so they don’t have to not to be photographed themselves for photo shoots.

But as long as the legal situation remains unclear, this makes little sense.

At the same time, Sinervo claims that they would have no interest in “working” as AI models, because their exclusivity would suffer.

“If Kendall Jenner suddenly appeared as an AI model for an anonymous brand, she would quickly cease to be a famous model.”

Labeling requirement: ending the AI ​​hype?

The Appinio survey found that 81% of respondents want clear labeling of AI-generated content, a proposition that divides the industry.

Inken Paland, a social media specialist in the field of AI, is also supportive. “We need to recognize AI models and understand that they are not real people, because we will encounter them even more often in the future.”

But Sinervo says mandatory labeling will soon dampen the hype around AI in the fashion industry. “This will give a bland aftertaste to images of AI and to the image of brands that use AI.”

Paland takes a longer-term view. “People tend to resist new technologies until they become normal,” she says, predicting that one day AI avatars will become as common “as those annoying cookies on websites.”