World's First Miss AI Contest Faces Backlash Over Unrealistic Beauty Standards

The recent Miss AI contest by the influencer platform Fanvue has stirred controversy by awarding prizes to three AI-generated personalities. The world's first Miss AI pageant aimed to judge AI-created social media influencers but has faced backlash for promoting unrealistic beauty standards.

Controversy on the World's First Miss AI Contest

The crowned winner, imaginary Instagram influencer Kenza Layli from Morocco, has sparked criticism, particularly from women in the AI community. Dr. Sasha Luccioni, an AI researcher at Hugging Face, voiced concerns, saying that this contest is another instance of AI contributing to the objectification of women.

The World AI Creator Awards (WAICA) included a contest that strategically leveraged negative publicity to garner attention for a company adept at capitalizing on online visibility, whether related to AI or not. The broader narrative here is the increasing integration of AI-generated content into mainstream culture.

The rise of AI-generated Instagram influencers has been notable as tools like Stable Diffusion have simplified the creation of countless images of women, often in provocative poses. Techniques such as Dreambooth further enhance these AI models, allowing customization for various scenarios.

Since its emergence in 2022, ArsTechnica reported that this technology has faced criticism for perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards and objectifying women. Critics argued that contests like "Miss AI" only exacerbate these concerns, reinforcing ideals of femininity defined by AI-generated imagery.

Contest Rules Raise Questions About AI Creations

The contest's rules are puzzling, as they appear to blur the distinction between fictional characters and their creators.

Contestants were judged on three criteria: beauty, including traditional pageant elements like poise and answering questions aimed at societal improvement; technical skill in implementing AI models and rendering visual detail; and social influence, gauged by social media followers and fan engagement.

Dr. Margaret Mitchell, an AI ethics researcher affiliated with Hugging Face, responded with questions when asked about the contest. She expressed confusion over whether the aim was to empower AI creators or AI-generated individuals. Mitchell pondered whether all contestants were AI-generated or just the winner, Kenza, and questioned the contest's underlying message.

Mitchell noted the discrepancy between the contest's depiction on the WAICA website, which emphasizes empowering creators, and its impact, perpetuating unrealistic beauty ideals through AI-generated figures.

Mitchell believes that the trend of AI influencers exacerbates existing issues seen with human influencers who selectively curate and manipulate images to present an idealized version of reality. According to Mitchell, this portrayal has the potential to impact girls and women who view these influencers online negatively.

Kenza Layli advocates for diversity and inclusivity within the AI-creator community. She boasts over 200,000 Instagram followers and 45,000 TikTok followers, who are engaging with AI-generated content, from her imagery to her captions and scripted acceptance speeches.

Meeting Layli in person is certainly out of the question since she's purely a digital creation. Myriam Bessa, the founder of Phoenix AI agency, is credited with bringing Layli to life and is set to receive a $5,000 cash prize for her creation.

Layli delivers an acceptance speech advocating for diversity and inclusivity in technology. However, given that the speech was either generated by software or scripted by Bessa, its authenticity is minimal, raising questions about the meaningfulness of AI-generated personas in public discourse.