Would you still love a $500 T-shirt if you knew it was designed by AI?

AI is outshining artisans. Is that a good thing?

Sounds (“Music”) and Images (“Art”) have been somewhat conquered by GenAI; it’s never been easier to create slop that’s “close enough” to the real thing. Creatives have taken notice, with 73% of them now believing that AI will significantly impact their industry.

Fashion has up until now been somewhat disconnected from these conversations. Sure, it’s a creative sector, but it also has glamor… and a certain exclusivity that makes AI’s infinite abundance seem gauche in comparison.

But times are changing, and even the Milanese are now asking if machines could craft the kind of cultural cachet luxury designers have spent lifetimes building.

Three researchers — Page Moreau from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Emanuela Prandelli from Bocconi University, and Martin Schreier from WU Vienna — recently added complexity to this debate with a research paper titled, “Generative Artificial Intelligence and Design Co-Creation in Luxury New Product Development: The Power of Discarded Ideas.” Their research explores whether generative AI can compete with human designers when it comes to luxury fashion… and how consumers may react to machine-made chic.