‘Your diversity doesn’t count’: Levi’s AI models prompt anger, but the denimwear label says they’re not a substitute for real action
- Levi’s has been criticised for using AI as a replacement for hiring and paying diverse models
- The brand said it is not scaling back its commitment to working with diverse models, but that AI could help it show its products on a range of body types quicker
Levi’s said its decision to use AI-generated diverse models was not a “means to advance diversity” or replace real action following an outcry.
The denimwear brand came under scrutiny this week after it announced a partnership with Lalaland.ai, an AI company set up in 2019, to use AI-generated models with more diverse skin tones and body types.
“With these body-inclusive avatars, the company aims to create a more inclusive, personal and sustainable shopping experience for fashion brands, retailers and customers,” Levi’s said.
However, critics said AI-generated models were a lazy way to address diversity issues, and meant that diverse models would miss out on opportunities to be hired and paid by Levi’s.
“Your diversity doesn’t count if you’re not diversifying who’s on the payroll,” one Twitter user wrote.
It looks like they’re trying to shortcut their way into the commercial benefits of demonstrating a more representative model, without doing the work
Levi’s said in a statement on Wednesday: “We are not scaling back our plans for live photo shoots, the use of live models, or our commitment to working with diverse models. Lalaland.ai’s technology, and AI more broadly, can potentially assist us by allowing us to publish more images of our products on a range of body types more quickly.”
Shereen Daniels, CEO and founder of UK-based racial equity consultancy firm HR Rewired, said: “It looks like they’re trying to shortcut their way into the commercial benefits of demonstrating a more representative model, without doing the work.”
Daniels said that minority ethnic groups were expected to double in the UK by 2061 and make up almost a third of the population, while their annual disposable income is also estimated to double to £575 billion (US$707 billion), according to a report by advertising giant WPP. That amounted to a huge commercial opportunity, Daniels added.
Levi’s addressed some of the concerns raised in its statement on Wednesday but did not provide further details on how it planned to address diversity issues. The company did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, the company said it would hire a head of diversity and inclusion, “reinvigorate” its search for a black director to join its board and train employees on anti-racism and racial equity.
Daniels said she wanted Levi’s, and its competitors, to be more transparent about their efforts to address systemic racism and to create a level playing field for both employees and customers who had been overlooked.
Visual representation was just one small, and superficial, part of that equation, she said.
