Using generative AI, designers can also use digital photos to adjust the functionality of their models, change what they wear, and deploy a fully digital avatar on behalf of humans.
The economic and emotional impact of AI on fashion models was the focus of “.Responsibility by design: AI, fashion, creative labor,” the New York Fashion Week 2025 event hosted by Model Alliance, a labor rights group in the fashion industry. The event on September 9th included presentations on AI and fashion models Zoe WestSenior researcher at the Labor Research Institute at ILR School. Sanjay Pinto is a fellow at the Institute of Workers. and Alexandra MateescuResearcher of the Labor Futures Initiative at the Data & Society Research Institute.
The three co-authored upcoming papers with funding from the Omidyar Network and Ford Foundation, based on research conducted in a partnership with the Model Alliance.
“We wanted to use AI in fashion modeling to better understand what's going on on the ground and how the models are experiencing it,” West said.
The team created a research snapshot.Fashion data doubles: how AI reconstructs modeling work“Share important findings Teen Vogue article.
The researchers said that real models and photography are important for the fashion industry as a whole, so replacing regular models with synthetic models and digital avatars is not a viable future, especially in many creative or editorial contexts where design and style is important. The model can bring a unique look that enhances the brand's appeal.
The researchers have combined their focus on the unstable work of the Workers Research Institute, combining data and the impact of generative AI in recent workplaces in society, particularly in creative industries such as Hollywood. They said that standards around AI are likely to be introduced into film and television. He said that while these workers belong to unions, the model is classified as independent contractors and cannot be unionized. “A lot of people would say they're misclassified,” West said.
Furthermore, researchers often rely little on the model if the institution of the model primarily controls the working conditions of the model, signs on behalf of the contract agreement, and the brand violates the contract terms.
“There's that inequality of power and there's a fierce violation of labor protection,” West said. “Models experience little transparency in contracts and lack of ownership or control over images. Models need to be empowered to implement the standards introduced. Despite the attractive image of modeling, models are almost highly unstable workers.”
Through a series of interviews with models, the researchers found that AI exacerbates the common problem of reusing photos without permission or reusing photos without paying for models. Nowadays, brands may employ contractors to use AI to convert them into a series of images featuring multiple outfits rather than paying for a long photo shoot.
The model has long faced the problem of an image being “Frankenstein” without permission to mix and match the body parts of multiple models in one image, but AI tools have allowed brands to dramatically edit images for a variety of purposes.
Interviewees said AI is being used in a way that makes them feel they can't control their public image. For example, the Asian American model said that seeing the white model's faces digitally layered can feel like a “slap in the face.” Another model said that turning the image of a dressed model into nude is “image violence.”
The model feared that the racial bias built into AI tools would lead to images with narrower racialized beauty norms rather than covering a wide range of appearances. They also believe that AI reinforces the norms of unhealthy beauty by integrating ideals generated in AIs that do not represent the actual body.
Researchers point to the New York Fashion Workers Act, which came into effect in June 2025, as a step in the right direction, but note that more needs to be done to establish standards to protect the economic and emotional interests of the model.
Tonya Engst is an author at ILR School.
