Rufo, “What Guess’s AI Model in Vogue Means for Beauty Standards”

Rufo, Yasmin. “What Guess’s AI Model in Vogue Means for Beauty Standards.” BBC News, BBC, 27 July 2025, bbc.com/news/articles/cgeqe084nn4o.

Rufo discusses the concerns around the use of AI-generated models for a recent Guess campaign in Vogue. The model and images were created by Seraphinne Vallora, a marketing agency specializing in AI-driven marketing campaigns and videos. The advert itself displays a young, thin, blonde white woman who might be deemed the ‘ideal’ type. This raises concerns for many, wondering how this will affect the available jobs for working models. It also causes those in and out of the industry to question how this will affect beauty standards. The ‘models’ created by Seraphinne Vallora are all similar in look to the one featured in the Guess campaign. Founders Valentina Gonzalez and Andreea Petrescu defend their choice with Gonzalez stating, “At the end of the day, we are a business and use images on Instagram that will create a conversation and bring us clients.” In regard to taking jobs, they also take the stance that this is an option companies can take to supplement their books, not replace actual models.

I found the article exposed some real issues with AI, particularly in the commercial realm. It showed how, through capitalism, businesses can use their bottom line to justify concerning uses of generative AI. What is happening with AI, which seems to happen with a lot of businesses, is that there is the side-sweeping of any responsibility for how your product affects its consumer. This worries me because change comes to clean up collateral damage, and this seems to be the case with many uses of generative AI.