The Swedish fashion retailer, H&M, has said that it is planning on digitally “cloning” 30 models, whose images it will use on social media and other advertising, if given permission by the models.
H&M’s chief creative officer, Jorgen Andersson, was quoted as saying: “We are curious to explore how to showcase our fashion in new creative ways – and embrace the benefits of new technology – while staying true to our commitment to personal style.”
However, others have said that this will kill jobs in the fashion industry.
H&M, which has 4,000 stores in more than 70 countries, including South Africa, said it would make it clear in its advertising and social media when AI had been used. It also said that models would be paid at similar rates to what they currently get for use of their cloned images.
H&M is not the first fashion retailer to consider using AI images to help sell and market its products.