Ten models that exist only in the digital realm have made it to the finals of what’s being billed as the world’s first beauty pageant involving AI.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Beauty pageant contestants have always been judged by their looks, and in recent decades, their do-gooderly (ph) deeds and their personalities. But one thing has remained consistent throughout beauty pageant history, and that’s the fact that you generally had to be a human being to enter. That is now changing. Models created using generative artificial intelligence are competing in the inaugural Miss AI pageant this month. NPR’s Chloe Veltman has been looking into it. Hey, Chloe.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: So what exactly are we talking about here?
VELTMAN: Really, this is just a bunch of images on social media of extremely beautiful, sexy young women. But these are not real women, Scott. They are AI-generated models. They exist only on places like Instagram, mostly as stills with accompanying written statements about their interests and their activities. And some of them can be seen moving and talking in videos. There’s the Moroccan entry, Kenza Layli, speaking in Arabic about how proud she is to have been selected as a finalist for Miss AI.
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AI-GENERATED VOICE #1: (As Kenza Layli, speaking Arabic).
VELTMAN: Even though these aren’t real women, there is a real prize – $5,000 for the winner. And a lot of people are participating in this. There were 1,500 submissions. And now we’re down to 10 finalists. A panel of judges will pick a winner at the end of the month.
DETROW: So how exactly do you get from 1,500 to one? What are the criteria here?
VELTMAN: The AI beauty queens are judged from the content on their Instagram accounts according to three criteria, Scott. So, of course, we’ve got looks. And there are also two other areas not typical for beauty pageants – one, how skillfully the AI tools have been used to create the models, for example, details around their eyes and hands, and also the avatar’s social media reach, things like how many fans are commenting and reacting to the posts on social media, the audience growth rate, like the number of followers and how quickly you grow them.
DETROW: And is there any depth to these models beyond what you just said, their appearance and their clout?
VELTMAN: Well, appearance is still the main thing. All the 10 finalists fit in with the beauty queen stereotypes. They’re young. They’re buxom. They’re female. They’re all thin. Sally-ann Fawcett is one of the judges of this competition. She’s a beauty pageant historian who’s been judging these types of events for a long time. And she says she wishes there was more variety in the submissions for this contest.
SALLY-ANN FAWCETT: I would like to see somebody of a different gender, somebody larger, older, with flaws. There’s such a big scope, but I think because it’s the first year, everyone’s adhering to that typical stereotype of beauty.
VELTMAN: Fawcett says she’s been trying to focus her judging efforts on the messaging around these AI beauty queens. Like real-life pageants, the contestants talk about the good causes they support and so on. So, for example, you’ve got the French avatar, Anne Kerdi, who’s the brand ambassador for Oceanopolis Acts, which is an ocean conservation fund. And then there’s Romania’s Aiyana Rainbow, who’s an LGBTQ advocate.
DETROW: There’s a lot of different things to think about here. Who else have you talked to about what’s going on here?
VELTMAN: I wanted to get the take of somebody who understands feminism and technology, so I spoke with Lynn Hershman Leeson, whose work is right at the intersection of these issues. And she says she’s baffled by the degree to which the AI creators for this contest so slavishly stick to traditional beauty pageant tropes.
LYNN HERSHMAN LEESON: The AI world has such a range of possibilities to consider for attractiveness, and they’ve chosen in the top 10 to just look for some kind of surface resemblance to what’s always been considered a winner in this kind of competition.
VELTMAN: Hershman Leeson asked, why not do something more wild and creative with the technology? Like, you could have a beauty queen who’s a sea monster or one with five heads.
DETROW: I mean, you could literally go any direction you want, and yet it is interesting that it ends up back in kind of this classic, almost trope-y area.
VELTMAN: Right. Well, also, let’s give the AI creators some credit, Scott. It’s not easy to create a photorealistic-looking human – right? – using AI. But maybe more importantly, this isn’t really a beauty contest at heart. Miss AI is really about showcasing AI as a marketing tool, specifically in the realm of AI influencers.
DETROW: I confess I have not yet thought of what exactly an AI influencer could be.
VELTMAN: Right. Well, most social media influencers today are real human beings, and it’s a huge market, Scott. The influencer market is worth tens of billions of dollars, and it’s growing fast. So the AI influencers, like the Miss AI finalists, could get in on this. And they’re starting to become very popular, especially if they can look and act like humans.
I spoke with Mohamed Taha Sarai (ph), who’s part of the team in Ankara, Turkey, that created one of the Miss AI finalists, Seren Ay. Sarai says they came up with the AI model five or six months ago because they wanted a brand ambassador for their online jewelry company. They thought about hiring a human influencer, but they cost so much money and they’re too demanding, he says.
DETROW: People.
VELTMAN: You can’t control them. I know – people. You can’t easily shape them to fit specific campaigns. Whereas he says his AI avatar’s cheaper, more flexible, and she doesn’t talk back.
MOHAMED TAHA SARAI: With the AI, there’s no limit. You can just do whatever you want. So just – I don’t know – like, if you want to just do something on the moon or on the sun, you can just do it on your imagination.
VELTMAN: Sarai says his business has grown tenfold since Seren Ay came on board to help his company sell jewelry, and her social media videos garner millions of views. He says he hopes the Miss AI beauty pageant will help grow her reputation as an influencer around the world. Also, Scott, he says it’s telling that an astonishing number of people who comment on Seren Ay’s post think she’s a real human being.
DETROW: So interesting. Maybe they’re on to something here.
VELTMAN: They could be.
DETROW: NPR’s Chloe Veltman, a human reporter. Thank you so much.
VELTMAN: An actual human. Thanks, Scott.
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