AI's Influence on Beauty Standards: Powerful Technology Reshaping Contemporary Ideals
In the ever-evolving world of technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made its mark in various industries, including the beauty and fashion sector. One of the most significant impacts of AI is its role in shaping modern ideals of attractiveness and beauty norms.
L'Oréal, a global leader in the beauty industry, is among those taking steps to ensure their algorithms align with inclusivity goals. However, concerns persist about racial bias in AI beauty systems, with 62% of AI-generated "beautiful women" having medium skin tones and 90% showing predominantly European facial features.
AI defines beauty standards by analysing facial symmetry, skin tone, and proportions from massive image datasets. Unfortunately, this often results in AI systems favouring European features and specific body types, requiring users to add special instructions for diverse representations. AI image generators predominantly portray women as thin, with dark skin tones appearing in only 9% of images and signs of aging in only 2% of cases.
These AI systems also show limited age and body diversity, reinforcing limiting beauty standards that favour European features and leave out people of different ethnicities, body types, and ages. Social media platforms and AI-driven digital marketing contribute to embedding a homogenized, often racially ambiguous "Instagram Face" aesthetic, which blends elements from various ethnicities but tends to erase distinct racial identities and creates a cyborg-like, uniform ideal largely shaped by algorithms prioritizing popularity and trending looks.
However, it's not all doom and gloom. Researchers at MIT have developed a method to reduce bias in AI beauty standards by removing specific data that causes model failures with minority groups. Companies like Sephora and L'Oréal are using AI for remote product testing and virtual makeup trials, while major beauty brands like Dove and Perfect Corp are taking steps towards inclusive representation, using diverse training data and building bias detection systems.
The European Union, Australia, Japan, and the United States require companies in the beauty industry to test their AI systems regularly against known standards to find differences between demographic groups. McKinsey predicts that AI-driven tools will shape up to 70% of customer interactions by 2027.
AI matters because it shapes modern ideals, influencing how society perceives attractiveness and beauty norms. Trends become data-driven. But it's crucial to address the embedded biases by transforming training datasets and applying more compassionate design approaches aimed at fairness and inclusion. This requires recognizing that AI inherits historical societal prejudices from its data, and confronting this legacy demands more than technical fixes—it needs deliberate cultural sensitivity and intervention.
The AI market in the beauty industry is projected to reach $13.4 billion by 2030. As we move forward, it's essential to ensure that this growth is inclusive and representative of the diverse world we live in. The beauty industry, with its influence on societal perceptions of attractiveness, has a unique opportunity to lead the charge towards a more inclusive and equitable future.
- The integration of AI in the beauty and fashion sector has significantly impacted lifestyle trends,, shaping modern beauty norms and fashion styles.
- While AI has the potential to revolutionize the education-and-self-development sector by shaping up to 70% of customer interactions by 2027, it is crucial to address the racial and age biases embedded in AI beauty systems.
- To promote a more inclusive fashion and beauty industry, companies should aim to diversify their training data, build bias detection systems, and work towards fairer and more compassionate AI designs.
