AI In Fashion: Benefits And Concerns
There are many different concerns and possibilities raised when discussing the influence of AI in the fashion industry.
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly prevalent in any workspace, ranging from a corporate AI bot to draft emails to a generative AI making art based off of other creators’ work.
While we cannot rebuke the change entirely, it is important to understand the practical uses of AI and when it can become unethical.
There are many different practical uses for AI in the fashion industry. These benefits include assistance in the production of goods, i.e manufacturing the clothes themselves, deciphering upcoming consumer trends, allowing quick responses to trend changes, and providing inspiration to designers who would not be able to flesh out their designs or find artistic stimulus as easily otherwise.
Many people have concerns that AI will undermine human workers. This concern appears at all stages of the fashion production process, with generative AI threatening to replace designers, analysts, and those on the physical garment production line.
Benefits
According to Forbes, there are many different benefits to AI in the fashion industry, some of which relate to the supply chain and others to the ideological creation of fashion pieces themselves. With previous inventory and sales data, Artificial Intelligence can predict potential future sales and prevent losses due to overstocking or understocking.
Additionally, companies that apply AI marketing technology can better understand their customers’ desires in relation to their products. Not only does this aid companies in understanding what their customers want, but it also assists them in finding the most effective way to market their products to the public by analyzing consumer trends and creating effective advertising.
From a designer’s perspective, AI is potentially a source of inspiration. Artificial intelligence can brainstorm designs or visualize concepts for designs without needing to actually draft anything. This saves time and provides a jumping-off point for artists, rescuing them from a potential creative block.
Concerns
The biggest concern when thinking about the application of artificial intelligence in the fashion industry is that AI will replace human workers and thusly narrow the job pool. Approximately 30% of workers worldwide are afraid that AI will make their jobs obsolete, according to SEO.AI.
Consumers and creators alike worry that artificial intelligence’s analytical approach to upcoming trends will lead to the deindividualization of new fashion, causing apprehension toward AI in fashion design. It also may feed into the already prevalent problem of fast fashion by making it easier to produce on-trend or “micro-trending” products using AI-generated material.
Lastly, there are a variety of ethical concerns that come with using AI tools or AI-generated material. The first problem stems from how the AI models are trained, and whether or not they have been trained using copyrighted material. The use of copyrighted material such as small business designs, blog text, or infographics that aren’t in the public domain is widely considered by artists to be stealing. This is because AI will generate designs or art based off of the original content provided and not give credit to the artist, therefore causing them to lose money and/or content traffic.
Designer’s Opinion
Vogue Business reached out to designers who showed up at New York Fashion Week to ask their opinions about artificial intelligence in the fashion industry and the design process.
Jonathon Cohen, who showed a collection inspired by Mexican prints and San Diego surf-culture notes his openness and curiosity toward the application of AI in the fashion industry by stating that it “can be a great tool to quickly show someone an idea.” Conversely, he asks, “how do we keep the handcraft and that human touch but also bring in technology?” This question is reminiscent of the concerns about losing the human aspect of design when bringing in AI technology.
Wes Gordon, who showed a collection focusing on feminine tones like lilacs and pale pinks with extensive beading and sequinning detail states that he “is excited to see the potential it can bring” but he is “romantic and old school about how I approach things” and “there are things to be afraid of”.
Many people believe that AI can be a helpful tool in creating and showcasing art, but it also needs regulation and ethics in order to preserve the human touch in artistic expression.
Ethical AI Applications
While we cannot control all of the uses of AI, both good and bad, there are ways to use AI and certain artificial intelligence bots without profiting from stolen designs/information/artwork.
On August 18th, 2023, the Supreme Court made a ruling stating that artificially generated artwork or writing does not fall under the protection of copyright law. They came to this decision based on the fact that there are no artificial intelligence programs that do not use copyrighted material.
While this is unfortunate because it implies that there is no ethical way to use AI-generated material, one cannot deny that AI can be used as a jumping-off point in reference to designs and ideas. The stipulation is, however, that these artificially generated materials cannot be ethically used for profit.
Although there are many concerns about AI within industries, it is safe to say that it can be an extremely beneficial tool to designers as long as they don’t pass off the AI-generated material as their own or seek to replace humans within the field whether it be designers themselves or anyone in the production line. In simple terms, to use AI ethically, one must think of it as an assistant, not a creator.
Want more information about AI? Check out Artificial Intelligence: Its Negative Impacts On The Creative Industry, Will Artificial Intelligence Be The Death of Art?, and How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Art Forever
