GENERATIVE AI

Are AI models the future of fashion?

AI is taking over the fashion world, even the runway. 

From Guess to Forever 21, brands are turning to AI-generated models, raising questions about creativity and the future of human work. The debate reignited this month after a Guess ad featuring an AI-generated model appeared in Vogue. 

Responses were swift on X, with one user saying they had to cancel their subscription, and another criticizing Vogue for using AI models.

AI has appeared in fashion campaigns before. Levi’s, Mango and H&M have all experimented with digital models. However, the inclusion in a major fashion magazine has been seen by some as a stamp of approval. 

Forever 21’s near-total use of AI avatars sparked divided reactions on LinkedIn, with some raising concerns about consent, labor and identity, and others praising cost and time savings.

Indeed, the financial incentives are hard to ignore.

The business case

McKinsey analysts predict generative AI could add $150-$275 billion in fashion profits by 2030, while Analytics Insight said 80% of retail executives expect the roll out of widespread intelligent automation technologies this year.

Online retailer Zalando already relies heavily on the tech, using AI for 70% of its online campaigns. 

A company spokesperson told The Deep View that AI allows them to “move at the pace of culture,” cutting campaign turnaround from weeks to less than a day.

“For models, digital twins offer an opportunity to advance their careers by showcasing their talents globally with fewer geographical and time constraints,” they added.

The use of digital tools, they stressed, is always intended as a supplement to, rather than a replacement of, human talent. 

“Human involvement remains an essential part of our content creation,” they said. “Our goal is to support creative teams and expand possibilities, not to remove the human element.”

Last week, the British Fashion Model Agents Association launched a petition, signed by more than 2,000 models, calling for stronger protections against unauthorized use of their images. Jade McSorley of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion wrote on LinkedIn that replacing models with AI disrupts an entire creative ecosystem — from stylists and photographers to the models themselves — and can reinforce unrealistic beauty standards, highlighting the need for safeguards and accountability.

AI can speed up campaigns and cut costs, but without safeguards, it risks undermining consent, labor rights and human creativity. Fashion brands, regulators and creatives will need to work together to ensure innovation doesn’t come at the expense of the humans who make these campaigns possible.

TOGETHER WITH STRIPE

The AI scaling blueprint

AI companies can hit a wall when user growth outpaces their billing and payments infrastructure: payments break, billing gets messy, and teams get distracted. Stripe’s new AI scaling playbook shows how to avoid this scenario.

ElevenLabs, Runway, and Leonardo AI scaled to massive revenue without the usual operational chaos. They built systems that bend instead of break, automate instead of overwhelm.

Get the playbook right here.

GUARDRAILS

ChatGPT gets parental controls

AI and teenagers have something in common: They can be unpredictable. 

Looking to reign in both, OpenAI on Monday launched parental controls for ChatGPT, allowing parents and teens to link their accounts to limit, monitor and manage how the chatbot is used. The AI giant launched these controls in partnership with Common Sense Media and other advocacy groups, as well as the attorneys general of California and Delaware. 

Parents now can control a number of settings on their teens’ accounts, including: 

• Setting quiet hours, removing voice mode and image generation capabilities, turning off chatGPT’s ability to save memories and opting out of model training. 

• OpenAI will also automatically limit “graphic content, viral challenges, sexual, romantic or violent role play, and extreme beauty ideals” for teen accounts. 

If OpenAI’s tech detects something is “seriously wrong,” such as recognizing signs of self harm or “acute distress,” parents will be notified immediately unless they have opted out. In more serious cases, such as signs of imminent danger, OpenAI is working on a process to contact emergency services. 

These guardrails come on the heels of a lawsuit alleging that OpenAI’s ChatGPT is responsible for the death of a 16-year-old boy, whose parents claim he was using the chatbot to explore suicide methods.

These safeguards highlight that an increasing amount of teens turn to AI for companionship. A July Common Sense Media survey of more than 1,000 teens found that 72% reported using AI companions, with 33% relying on these companions for emotional support, friendship or romantic interactions. 

Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, said in a statement that safeguards like these are “just one piece of the puzzle” in safe AI use. 

In its announcement, OpenAI said these measures will “iterate and improve over time,” noting that it’s working on an age prediction system that it announced in mid-September. “Guardrails help, but they’re not foolproof and can be bypassed if someone is intentionally trying to get around them.”

TOGETHER WITH DELL

Dell’s Latest PC Brings AI To Your Desk

Advanced AI may be the future, but you won’t be able to make the most of it if your computer is living in the past. For a new generation of ideas, we need a new generation of PC’s… and that’s exactly what Dell has done with their latest and greatest: The Dell Pro Max with GB10.

The GB10 raises the bar for AI developer PCs thanks to:

• A powerful NVIDIA software stack and Grace Blackwell superchip

• The ability to support up to 200Bn parameter models

• One Petaflop of FP4 computing power

In other words, it’s a pint-sized PC companion that can turn any desk into developer heaven – and it’s available now. Try the Dell Pro Max GB10 for yourself right here.

JOB MARKET

Lufthansa leans on AI, cuts 4,000 Jobs

Lufthansa is cutting 4,000 jobs as it leans on AI to set higher profitability targets, the company announced on Monday.

The job cuts would primarily impact administrative roles in Germany, focusing on positions that “will no longer be necessary in the future” due to the duplication of work, the company noted. 

“The profound changes brought about by digitalization and the increased use of artificial intelligence will lead to greater efficiency in many areas and processes,” the company said in its announcement. 

Lufthansa is far from the first company to lean into AI to automate certain positions. Klarna and  Salesforce both cut thousands of staff this year, with their CEOs confirming that AI was the reason those jobs weren’t replaced.  Accenture said last week that it would “exit” staff who couldn’t be reskilled on the tech, and that 11,000 were already cut. 

The string of cuts signals that companies are looking to AI as a means of automating administrative, repetitive and routine tasks. Research from Microsoft published in July found that positions such as customer service, telephone operators and sales representatives are among those that are particularly vulnerable to AI automation. 

As companies seek to prove returns on their AI investments, they may be looking to headcount as a way to fulfill those promises.

LINKS

• Marissa Mayer shuts down consumer AI startup Sunshine

• Huawei plans to double its output of advanced AU chips in China

• Young workers turn to trade jobs as AI threatens white-collar work

• Northrop Grumman partners to test AI on Vanguard jet

• A Republican lawmaker wants to ban marriage to AI chatbots

• President Trump posts AI video promoting “medbed” conspiracy theory

• Lovable Cloud & AI: Lovable just released new features that allow users to build full-stack apps. You no longer need to have Supabase for auth or connect a ton of APIs

• ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout: ChatGPT users can now buy directly from Etsy sellers within the chatbot. Shopify merchants, including Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx and Vuori, will be added soon.

• Claude Sonnet 4.5: Anthropic’s latest coding model is capable of maintaining focus for more than 30 hours on complex tasks. 

• Splox: A multi-agent platform to create, run and manage AI agents, currently available in beta.

• Meta: Data Scientist

• Vast.ai: Data Scientist, Analytics

• Anthropic: Capacity Engineer, Compute

• OpenAI: AI Deployment Manager, San Francisco

GAMES

A QUICK POLL BEFORE YOU GO