Luxury Italian fashion house Gucci has been blasted on social media for using AI-generated images to promote its show at Milan Fashion Week.
Gucci has been criticised for using AI to generate promotional images for its upcoming Milan Fashion Week show.
The images have been posted on social media by the luxury Italian fashion house – leading several users to question how using AI in place of human models and photographers is in keeping with the brand’s claim that it celebrates “creativity and Italian craftsmanship”.
In response to an AI-generated image of a glamorous older woman in a classic Gucci outfit, one user penned: “Bleak days when Gucci can’t find a real human Milanese grandmother to wear an outfit from 1976.”
The pictures have been labelled as “created with AI” but critics say they are a good example of “AI slop” – a term for the deluge of low-quality AI-generated content that is commonplace on social media.
Others have queried why the high-end fashion company needs to use the cost-cutting technology for its marketing.
Gucci joins a range of designer and high-street brands, such as retailer H+M, in exploring the use of generative AI tools for social content and advertising.
Dr Priscilla Chan, senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Fashion Institute, explained that there are risks for companies turning to the tech for their marketing.
She said that some previous examples have generated “a lot of free positive publicity” – but the drawback of AI is that it risks “a lot of negative publicity instead”.
Dr Chan told BBC News: “I think particularly luxury fashion brands need to pay attention [to whether] the latest technology can create a positive image for their brands.”
Tati Bruening, a photographer who has over two million TikTok followers, explained that she was “generally not a fan” of fashion houses using AI but accepts that there can be a limited place for it.
Bruening, who is known as illumitati on the social media platform, said: “There are ways to use AI that is non-invasive to the creative ecosystem and I see no problem with that.
“There is a difference between enhancing or editing simple things with AI vs. image generation.”
However, the TikTok user did not dismiss the theory that Gucci could be intentionally starting a debate on the definition of high fashion in the AI era.
She said: “I don’t feel that this campaign was necessarily made to reflect luxury but create commentary on what luxury actually is.”
Gucci slammed for using ‘AI slop’ images to promote Milan Fashion Week show
