Mastodawn

Richard Halford Mar 26, 2023

Scott Hanselman 👸🏽🐝🌮

This is exactly what NOT to use generative #AI for. Here they are avoiding giving PoC jobs - and there are models to be hired, to be sure - and instead accomplishing “power rangers diversity” w/ pie charts measures and algorithms rather than just humanity. Shameful and lazy Levi’s.

“Levi's will start using AI-generated people in order to increase the diversity among its models.”

https://petapixel.com/2023/03/24/levis-to-use-ai-generated-models-to-increase-diversity/

Levi's to Use AI-Generated Models to 'Increase Diversity'

Characterized as a way for it to further its diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.

PetaPixel

looptron Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman That beggars belief. And yet is also somehow unsurprising.

LocalJoost 🥽Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman I think it's more a case of using diversity as a cover-up for not having to pay for models *at all* anymore. And model photographers. They are trying to have a double-edged sword - cutting wage cost, and getting 'diversity points' with the same stroke. The problems with double-edged swords is, they are very sharp, and you might fall into it. QED.

mattg Mar 26, 2023

@localjoost @shanselman exactly. Any time a corporation has the chance to replace a paid employee with a machine, they'll do it.

Frank Quednau Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman when people say the current crop of tech will further strengthen the status quo - this is one of many examples to come. It is and will be important to highlight them.

⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman How does having no models increase the diversity of them?

ADHDel-DRAFT-v10-final (2).doc Mar 26, 2023

@fishidwardrobe @shanselman No models means models from diverse backgrounds have fewer opportunity to work.

⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe Mar 26, 2023

@del @shanselman It even means *white* models have less opportunity to work. So: less diverse than not diverse! Impressive!

Horst Albermann 🇪🇺🇩🇪Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman But that's exactly the business model for LLMs: produce more hard-to-see data garbage.

And please: This has nothing to do with intelligence. Not even artificial intelligence.

nikodemicek Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman regardless of what the article/Levi’s claim with diversity etc. I see a great use case for this technology. It will let people choose the model, based on their own appearance. I am loving the tech and many people will too, I definitely see it replacing human models - except celebrities, perhaps.

Dawn Ahukanna Mar 26, 2023

… and I’ll take my money, whilst I still have it, elsewhere.

(edit) these companies, especially with subscription models, need customers who can afford to pay the monthly fees. I guess AI will be self-subscribing and wearing their apparel.

brunorobert Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman the more power you already have, the more#AI can increase that power.

it’s similar to the industrial revolution. If you have the money to own factories (train Large #ML #models ), you can reduce _your_ costs and increase _your_ profits.

Since money is a 0-sum system, someone (or many people) are losing out… At least with our current social system.

Stories and Folklore Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman bad job Levi’s, bad shitting job.

kooostia16 (e/acc)Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman what's the issue with AI-generated people?

JMaverickJacks1 Mar 26, 2023

@kooostia16 @shanselman Digital models, in and of themselves, are not the problem, but using digital models to put people out of work — black and brown people, especially— while claiming that this is diversifying your workforce and expanding its people of color is lying racism: a high-tech minstrel show.

kooostia16 (e/acc)Apr 1, 2023

@JMaverickJacks1 @shanselman why "putting people out of work"? Humans can easily adapt to new environments, work etc, models can also use AI to achieve much more than without it

JMaverickJacks1 Apr 1, 2023

@kooostia16 @shanselman Adapting to the “new environment” of being broke and unemployed in an industry that’s actively working to make you useless while pretending to care about your needs?🤨

kooostia16 (e/acc)Apr 1, 2023

@JMaverickJacks1 @shanselman if it's actively working to "make you worthless", why not work actively to make yourself more useful?

JMaverickJacks1 Apr 1, 2023

@kooostia16 @shanselman I do, and so do many other people, presumably including you, but billionaires with far more resources than you have are plotting your professional extinction faster than you can humanly respond. So, no matter what career you’re in, and no matter how smart and talented you think you are, someone is building AI to replace you, even if you’re an AI coder. When that replacement hits the market, then you can talk more knowledgeably about what to do

Pēteris Krišjānis Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman but this is exactly why generative AI is so interesting to VC and corporations. They want to decrease head count, just produce "content", so they can keep printing money.
Of course, it is pretty stupid and shortsighted, but putting all eggs in LLM and deep learning is too, but that hasn't stopped people frowning over them.

Jon Lebkowsky Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman I'm not clear whether they're using AI for selection or for generation?

ADHDel-DRAFT-v10-final (2).doc Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman The real reason here isn’t because they want to be more diverse. That’s a reframing of the point that virtual models are much much cheaper to work with.

Matthieu Calu Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman The title should read “Levi’s to use AI-Generated models to cut costs and avoid having to pay models.

That’s a legitimate reason for a for-profit company, but be honest about it.

Dusty Burwell Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew.

This is abhorrent af.

༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman "Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell. 'More human than human' is our motto."

JMaverickJacks1 Mar 26, 2023

@anachronistic @shanselman “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... Time to die.”

fritzcokid Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman so, are we living in the matrix yet? Getting close? Sure feels like that any day jow, someone will be asking me if I want a red pill or a blue pill.

PlainTalkBadManners Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman Unless we have regulations as to how AI will be used, AI will be used consistently to maximise profit as the #1 goal. This is the direction of travel and a continuation of a tradition over a century old. Human Labour-saving technology = more profit.

Lingua Franca Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman I can easily see an entire corporate board composed of AI.

JMaverickJacks1 Mar 26, 2023

@montetrecarte @shanselman That’s when corporate goons will finally realize that their relentless quest for profit — humanity be damned — has gone too far: when they themselves are replaced by machines.

Ed Sanders Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman This is absolutely a reason not to buy what they sell. It’s so insane only a white man could come up with it.

Greg Stolze Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman This is messed up on so many levels, it's hard to know what to 😟 at first.
Most selfishly, if I'm already reduced to buying jeans online, I'd like to see images of THE ACTUAL PRODUCT, not idealized phantasms at least two removes from how the real garment is going to appear on my physical carcass.
They might as well put up design sketches.

Tucker Teague Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman The irony of “diversity among its models.” And which models are those?

Prof. G.Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman -- Seems like a fine reason to not purchase Levi's.

Colopen Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman
time for a regulation

JMaverickJacks1 Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman That’s shameful. Using digital art would normally be OK, but using digital models to falsely portray a business as more diverse, when that business should simply hire more people of color, is disingenuous, deceptive and lazy. It’s the high-tech equivalent of having blackface minstrels say they’re actually black in employee-demographic statistics and related marketing materials.

damageboy Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman Isn't this clearly an attempt to spin the fact that they want to stop paying for models period as a diversity virtue signaling diversion tactic?

Looks obvious to me, but what do I know

BoxOfRain Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman @donmelton
*head meet desk*

Joe Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman

"Mannequins are taking jobs away from models!" 🤦

Perhaps this is *precisely* how it should be done -- at least half of it.

If modelling as a job or career is defined by maintaining one's appearance within tolerances of another's standard of beauty, AI poisoning the market *could* introduce a significant perceptional shift of the odds of becoming a model, reducing the career pursuit and some of the societal nonsense that comes with it.

Stop paying *anyone* to look like something -- *including* "none of the above."

Aral Balkan Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman A corporation, given the chance, will always do the worst thing possible.

Asbjørn Ulsberg Mar 26, 2023

@aral @shanselman Aren’t they required to, in order to maximise the profit of their shareholders?

Paula Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman clearly a white person thought this was a good idea. This tells me they need to hire more POC in upper management.

Paula Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman AI Blackface seems to already be a thing. Note, this is happening when all the tech companies are laying off their diversity and ethics teams… clearly they need to hire them back.

Amster Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman Since the current AI is a fancy copy machine, how will Levi's ensure the models aren't just reinforcing stereotypes? If you don't have actual diversity on staff, how will you ensure accurate training data? Isn't it cheaper and better to just get actual diverse talent?

@shanselman this reminds me of an old #IBM saying:

"Don't let a computer make decisions since a computer cannot be made accountable for it's actions and decisions!"

kira :3 Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman this is so stupid it sounds like a futurama joke

miriam heddy Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman
The issue isn’t just racism.
Lalaland.ai and generative #AI are here being used by Levis & others to avoid hiring #FatModels.
#Fatshion matters. #BodyDiversity matters.
This is an #Intersectional problem. See also: #SabrinaStrings.

@shanselman AI keeps shaping up to be a tool for oppression

Stop That Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman Because why actually PAY a PoC when you can just generate one instead?

Ugh.

Lady Artemis Mar 26, 2023

While I don't like companies weaseling out of hiring all varieties of people, I am 100% for the end of paying people to be pretty.

Models : people pay me to look pretty while using their stuff so millions of people will waste money lining the pockets of the rich while failing to have basic financial stability for themselves, not because the product will help them in any way, but because there is so much pressure to be attractive to the creepy white men who rule the world.

SteveBologna Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman So humanity doesn’t already have diverse individuals looking for a paycheck? This is typical of all corporations. Do something to save or make money and pretend it’s good for folks.

Lyons Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman I cannot remember where I first saw this notion, but someone described this as a kind of digital slavery. If rich white people can't own and control real POC, they'll manufacture ones they can. Sickening.

GyzX Mar 26, 2023

Is what Einstein was complaining about. But they just went ahead and now Putin is stationing nuc's in Belarus

dasparadoxon Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman saves money :/

Miia Mustang Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman That's messed up. D:

Ken Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman Totally agree. Shameful.

@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNote Mar 26, 2023

@shanselman Lots of companies have been using AI models for longer than you think and yeah it’s so they don’t have to pay people of color. https://afrotech.com/the-worlds-first-digital-supermodel-is-a-black-woman

Yes, The World’s First AI Supermodel Is A Black Woman — But Is a White Creator Reaping The Benefits? - AfroTech

While artificial intelligence (AI) generators are offering cool photos for your social media feed, how are they affecting society in the full scope...

AfroTech