TLDR: A New York Fashion Week 2025 event, ‘Responsible by Design: AI, Fashion, and Creative Labor,’ highlighted the significant economic and emotional impact of generative AI on fashion models. Researchers from the ILR School’s Worker Institute and Data & Society found that AI tools allow designers to manipulate models’ features, clothing, or even replace them with digital avatars, leading to feelings of disposability, lack of control over their image, and concerns about racial bias in beauty standards. Unlike unionized Hollywood workers, fashion models, often classified as independent contractors, face challenges in establishing industry-wide AI standards.
The fashion industry is grappling with the profound implications of generative artificial intelligence, as highlighted at a New York Fashion Week 2025 event titled ‘Responsible by Design: AI, Fashion, and Creative Labor.’ Hosted by the Model Alliance, a prominent labor rights group in the fashion sector, the event brought to light the economic and emotional toll AI is taking on human models.
Generative AI empowers designers to digitally alter models’ features, change their attire, and even deploy entirely digital avatars, potentially replacing human talent. This technological shift was the focus of a presentation by Zoë West, senior researcher at the ILR School’s Worker Institute; Sanjay Pinto, a fellow at the Worker Institute; and Alexandra Mateescu, a researcher on the Labor Futures initiative at Data & Society Research Institute. Their insights are based on a forthcoming paper, developed in partnership with the Model Alliance and funded by Omidyar Network and the Ford Foundation.
‘We wanted a better understanding of what is happening on the ground with the use of AI in fashion modeling and how models are experiencing it,’ stated Zoë West. The research, summarized in their snapshot ‘Fashion’s Data Doubles: How AI is Reshaping Modeling Work’ and a Teen Vogue article, reveals that while real-life models and authentic photo shoots remain crucial for the industry’s creative and editorial integrity, the rise of synthetic models and digital avatars presents a challenging future.
A key finding from interviews with models is that AI has intensified existing problems, such as brands reusing images without permission or additional compensation. For instance, a brand might now use AI to transform a single photograph into a series of images featuring various outfits, circumventing the need for extensive, costly photo shoots. Models also reported that while ‘Frankensteining’—mixing and matching body parts from different models—has long been an issue, AI tools have made it significantly easier for brands to drastically edit images for diverse purposes.
The emotional impact on models is substantial; many expressed feeling disposable and losing control over their public image. One Asian American model described seeing a white model’s face digitally superimposed onto her body as a ‘slap in the face,’ while another characterized the transformation of a clothed image into a nude as ‘image violence.’ There is also a pervasive fear that racial biases embedded within AI tools could lead to the promotion of narrower, racialized beauty norms, rather than embracing a diverse range of appearances.
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The researchers drew a parallel with Hollywood, where unions have facilitated the introduction of standards around AI usage. In contrast, fashion models are predominantly classified as independent contractors, which hinders their ability to unionize and collectively enforce similar protections. West emphasized the severe power imbalances and widespread violations of labor protections in the modeling industry, noting that models often lack ownership or control over their images and face minimal transparency in contracts. ‘Models need to be empowered to enforce any standards that are put into place. Despite the glamorous image of modeling, models are largely very precarious workers,’ West concluded.
