As AI tools like ChatGPT become increasingly accessible, popular, and sophisticated, they are rapidly transforming the way individuals and businesses approach productivity and output. While these advancements offer immense opportunities to streamline workflows and enhance creativity, they also raise important questions about the future of work.
In marketing, AI has already found its footing in areas like graphic design, image editing, copywriting, and even the more technical corners of the industry, such as SEO. Automation is no longer a novelty, it’s become a norm. Yet, as AI capabilities continue to evolve, so too does the complexity and controversy surrounding its implications.
One of the most recent, and arguably topical, developments is H&M’s launch of AI-generated models. The brand has partnered with 30 professional models and their agencies to create digital replicas that can be utilised across their website, social media, and broader marketing campaigns. To help ease the understandable apprehension around AI, especially as the first brand in the industry to take this step, H&M has involved the models in every step of the process, working collaboratively to create digital twins that the models fully own and control.
To bring these virtual replicas to life, H&M partnered with tech company Uncut, which captures hundreds of images of each model in motion, from multiple angles and under various lighting conditions, to gather the data necessary for an accurate, lifelike twin. Once these digital replicas are created, the models themselves can decide whether to allow H&M, or any other brands, to use their AI twins. Essentially, the models can set a usage price for their AI twin, introducing a new layer of monetisation and intellectual property control in the marketing industry.
In an interview with The Business of Fashion, H&M’s Chief Creative Officer, Jörgen Andersson, shared that “People will be divided. You know, ‘Is this good? Is this bad?’” The article also raised crucial points with Sara Ziff, Executive Director of the advocacy group Model Alliance, asking, “Would they pay more because they’re saving on the costs of travel, for example, or less because they don’t have to be physically present?”
While this shift may seem inevitable given the rapid adoption of AI tools across industries, it raises significant ethical questions, as well as concerns about how it will transform the future of jobs in the marketing sector.
To counter this, and push for human involvement, trends (and data) have proven that customers are increasingly seeking out authentic storytelling and behind-the-scenes into both the people and ideas that make up brands and campaigns alike. With this movement in mind we believe that old-fashioned campaigns that champion humans in creative, iconic and relatable ways will always remain the epitome of marketing. After all, marketing is art, and AI, for all its sophistication, cannot replicate the warmth and personal touch that make it resonate.
