Does this look like a real woman? AI Vogue model raises concerns about beauty standards

But Felicity Hayward, a plus-size model who has been in the industry for more than a decade, says using AI models in fashion campaigns "feels lazy and cheap".

"Either Guess is doing this to create a talking point and get free publicity or they want to cut costs and don't think about the implications of that."

She describes Vogue's decision to include the advert as "very disheartening and quite scary", and worries it could undermine years of work towards more diversity in the industry.

The fashion world was making real progress to be more inclusive in the 2010s - the decade saw Valentina Sampaio become the first openly trans model to walk for Victoria's Secret, Halima Aden was the first hijab-wearing model in global campaigns, and brands like Savage x Fenty featured plus-size models on the runway.

But in recent years, Hayward believes, the industry has slipped backwards because "these people are just not getting booked any more".

And the use of AI models is "another kick in the teeth, and one that will disproportionately affect plus-size models", she warns.

An ad campaign by Dove in 2024 was designed to highlight the biases in AI. In the advert, an image generator is asked to create the most beautiful woman in the world and produces virtually indistinguishable women who are young, thin and white, with blonde hair and blue eyes. The images generated look similar to the Guess AI model.

Hayward worries that seeing these unattainable images could have an impact on people's mental health and negatively affect their body image.

Concern around unrealistic beauty standards and the damaging effects they can have is nothing new. But unlike traditional airbrushing, which at least began with a real person, these AI models are digitally created to look perfect, free from human flaws, inconsistencies or uniqueness.

While some high-profile figures such as Ashley Graham, Jameela Jamil and Bella Thorne have spoken out against image editing and refuse to have their pictures Photoshopped, the use of AI sidesteps such conversations entirely.