In two photos taken for fashion retailer H&M, model Mathilda Gvarliani can be seen posing in a white tank top and jeans. The images look like they were taken from the same shoot, but one of the photos shows Gvarliani the real Ms. Gvarliani, and the other is an artificially manipulated image of her.
One image published this week on the industry news outlet Business of Fashion shows Gvarliani holding the waistband in her jeans, while the other shows her “digital twin” staring at the camera with her arms crossed.
The two images feature a quote by Gvarliani. “She's like me without Jet Lag.” Gvarliani reported that this year is one of more than 20 models that H&M has partnered up to create digital replicas for use in its social media platforms and marketing campaigns, the publication reported.
Swedish retailer H&M is the latest company to pursue trends that have destabilized some fashion industry insiders. Using images that spreads artificial intelligence, critics have expressed concern about the impact on models and other independent contractors, including hair stylists and makeup artists, who are part of the photo shoot workforce.
According to H&M spokesman Hacan Andersson, the company is in the exploration stage of the project.
“We are simply exploring what is possible, and we work closely with other creatives in the industry, institutions and models themselves. We have full control over when the “digital twin” is used, and of course we are paid when it is used.”
Jorgen Andersson, chief creative officer at H&M, said the company will retain a “human-centric approach” in its use of technology.
H&M “was interested in exploring ways to showcase our fashion in new and creative ways, while still remaining true to our commitment to personal style,” he issued a statement in an email Thursday.
The Fashion Workers Act, a new law that will come into effect in New York in June, is expected to address some of the concerns about the use of AI by providing protection to the model, including the need for wage transparency and control over digital replicas.
State Sen. Brad Hoyleman Cigar, co-sponsor of the bill, said the labor law “protects fashion models from being financially abused and using images without their consent.”
Other states and some European countries have laws relating to individual rights via digital replicas, but New York law specializes in models.
Some models have complained that they have found unknown faces taking photos on their bodies and that they have no control over their finances.
“I think part of the impressive thing about the H&M Digital-Twin campaign is that the digital representation of the model is indistinguishable,” said Sara Ziff, former model and founder of the Model Alliance, on Friday. “It could really raise doubts about consent and compensation and replace many fashion workers.”
The alliance that provided input to the law in New York said models may use generated AI images without knowledge or consent, and without compensation. The new law states that modeling agencies cannot empower lawyers through digital replicas and must obtain written consent from the model for how they are used and compensation.
Models generated in AI are generally either human models or fictional representations of digital replicas, which are images of real people reused by technologies such as H&M “digital twins.”
The use of these digital forms in the lucrative fashion industry has been developing for many years as global retailers try to balance brand appeal with transparency and cost.
In 2011, H&M layered the heads of the actual models onto computer-generated mannequins for their online swimsuit campaign. In 2023, denim brand Levi Strauss said it will use AI technology to publish more images of different body types, but added that it will not scale back the use of live models.
Last year, fashion brand Mango unveiled a campaign for teenage clothing using AI technology, which Chief Information Technology Officer Jordi Alex announced, “wouldn't we make more human or not?”
In this week's newsletter, the Model Alliance said it is evaluating the H&M plan, which includes examples of other models next to the digital clone.
“Finally, how I'm in New York and Tokyo on the same day,” model Yar Aguer was quoted as saying he was paired with her digital twin.
Asked on Friday if the models really said those words, a spokesman for H&M said, “You can see that it's a real quote from the model.”
