If there’s one industry where artificial intelligence can wipe out human jobs, it’s fashion. We have seen how ChatGPT or Nano Banana generate people with perfect features that do not exist, and professional quality photos. It is normal that Fashion photographers and models are concerned about the use of AI in stores like Zara, H&M and Zalando.
A photo of a model created with AI, dressed in the brand’s clothing, is already as credible as a real image. For the manufacturer it is much cheaper and, even more important: faster.
Today it has been confirmed, through Reuterswhich Zara is already using AI to generate images for its website and advertising catalogswith real models wearing different items of clothing.
This is how Zara and other fashion platforms use AI
According to what a Zara model told the financial newspaper CityAMthe brand asked her permission to use her image to create photos with different clothes and accessories. H&M and Zalando use similar systems.
The great news is that the model received her payas if she had participated in that photo shoot, instead of the AI.
Zara itself has confirmed that, indeed, they use AI to generate fashion images, but with real models, with their permission, and paying them as if it had been a conventional photo shoot.
What the source does not clarify is whether the photographers and the production team (makeup, costumes, decoration) who participate in conventional photo sessions have also received their pay, having been replaced by AI.
It is true that a fashion brand manufactures hundreds of garments that it continually renews, so photo sessions with models are continuous. That is expensive and takes time. Artificial intelligence can now do it cheaper, and much faster.
At the moment, It seems that Zara is introducing AI into its advertising division in an ethical way: Use real models, they are not generated with AI, and also pay as if those AI photos were real photo sessions. For a multinational brand that constantly needs new content, it doesn’t mind paying even if it uses AI, because the priority is to get those photos faster.
But many believe that It’s just a strategy to get people used to fashion photos generated with artificial intelligence. In a second phase, photographers and real models will be dispensed with. We’ll see how far the world of fashion is capable of going…