New York City, USA – Last week, the fashion world descended on New York City for New York Fashion Week (NYFW). The bi-annual event celebrated the best in the industry and showcased the hottest trends for the season. NYFW is a massive money maker for the city and the fashion industry at large. On average, the event brings in a staggering 600m annually. But regardless of the stark economic and cultural value the event brings, it is overshadowed by the same existential threat hitting sectors like media and tech – artificial intelligence eroding existing jobs and limiting work opportunities in the future.

Aitana López seems to have come out of nowhere and taken the modeling industry by storm. The pink-haired, toned 25-year-old from Barcelona has reportedly secured advertising deals worth more than $1,000 per Instagram post, and has more than 100,000 online followers. Her Instagram feed shows her posing in outfits from Guess, Brandy Melville, and Victoria's Secret, and tagging haircare brand Olaplex to give them apparent credit for her vibrant locks. In fact, Aitana López was created using artificial intelligence. The caption, translated from Spanish, reads, 'No matter the occasion, the'little black dress' never fails!

AI-generated models are coming to Levi's e-commerce sites. The goal is to sustainably increase the number and diversity of models for its products, it said. Founded in 2019, Lalaland utilizes AI to enable fashion brands and retailers to use hyper-realistic models of every body type, age, size, and skin tone. With these body-inclusive avatars, the company aims to create a more "inclusive, personal, and sustainable shopping experience" for fashion brands, retailers, and customers. "We see fashion and technology as both an art and a science, and we're thrilled to be partnering with LaLaLand, a company with such high-quality technology that can help us continue on our journey for a more diverse and inclusive customer experience," said Dr. Amy Gershkoff Bolles, LS&Co.

Levi Strauss announced plans to test customized AI-generated models with the goal of multiplying the number and diversity of models that customers can see. The denim giant partnered on the test with LaLaLand.ai, Currently, shoppers on Levi.com typically only see one model for each product. The AI technology, according to Levi's, "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 project supports Levi's broader diversity, equity and inclusion objectives.

In recent years, AI and machine learning have grown significantly across various industries, and the advertising industry is no exception. With the help of AI-generated models, companies can now create highly targeted, personalized ads that can dramatically improve their marketing strategies. As an AI enthusiast and photography enthusiast, I have explored the potential of AI models to produce art, and my journey led me to Stable Diffusion at the end of 2022. Stable Diffusion is an educational deep text-to-speech model that can be installed on a desktop with a compatible GPU, and is open-source, making it accessible to anyone. Using Stable Diffusion, I have experimented with creating realistic portraits of people, and the results have been consistent and impressive.