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Using AI to miss the point of diversity [1]

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Date: 2023-04-29  

An image of a black woman model generated using artificial intelligence. Random number seed 3899306311, overall prompt weight 50%, Stable Diffusion SDXL, sampling method K_LMS, no CLIP guidance. I don't have money to pay a model but I do have lots of credits on Nightcafe. What's Levi's excuse?

In order to increase the diversity of their models, Levi’s, a clothing manufacturer known mostly for blue jeans, will be partnering with an artificial intelligence company to generate images of more diverse models. This leads to the obvious question: why can’t Levi’s just hire more diverse models? Tariro Mzezewa for New York’s The Cut:

Currently, if you look at an item on Levi’s online store, you can see most things on one model. The company says it wants to give shoppers the opportunity to see clothes on people who resemble them. “This AI technology can potentially assist us by supplementing models and unlocking a future where we can enable customers to see our products on more models that look like themselves, creating a more personal and inclusive shopping experience,” the company’s announcement said.

Okay, sounds good in theory. But…

Maybe someone should tell the leadership team at Levi’s that there’s a straightforward way to achieve the same goal: to hire real-life humans who work as professional models and deserve the chance to be paid for their work.

Or, more pointedly:

x So instead of actually hiring and paying diverse models, Levi’s will use AI to make it look like they hired and paid diverse models. Yikes. Your diversity doesn’t count if you’re not diversifying who’s on the payroll. https://t.co/qggMcMUUHG — Amanda Y. Fung (@amandayfung) March 29, 2023

To be fair to Levi’s, note that Lalaland.ai, the artificial intelligence image-generating company, is a black-founded and owned company. In response to the backlash, Levi’s put out a statement saying they’re not doing away with live models entirely. The artificial intelligence will supplement the live models.

The technology does have the potential to provide artificially generated models similar to the customers in real time. Like, for example, let’s say you’re online shopping for tailored slacks (which Levi’s also makes), and then you hand your device to your significant other, who might be older or younger than you, of a different race, fatter, skinnier, etc. The online store could immediately adjust accordingly.

Still, many questions remain. Mary Hanbury for Business Insider:

Shereen Daniels, CEO and founder of UK-based racial equity consultancy firm HR Rewired, told Insider: "It looks like they're trying to shortcut their way into the commercial benefits of demonstrating a more representative model, without doing the work." [...] Levi's addressed some of the concerns raised in its statement Wednesday[, March 29, 2023,] but did not provide further details on how it planned to address diversity issues. The company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further comment. [...] Daniels said she wanted Levi's, and its competitors, to be more transparent about their efforts to address systemic racism and to create a level playing field for both employees and customers who had been overlooked.

I think Levi’s should still honor their original deal with Lalaland.ai. But they should also ask Lalaland.ai for a referral to a company that will provide them with real, diverse models.

Thanks for reading, please like and subscribe. By the way, if you scroll down a little bit more, you might see some ads for clothing. You might even see real, diverse models in the ads. But if you click on the ad, who’s the model on the new tab that opens? Please let me know in the comments.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/29/1732721/-Using-AI-to-miss-the-point-of-diversity

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