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šŸ¤– Leviā€™s jeans faces backlash for using AI models

PLUS: A new AI search engine

Author

Jameson Zaballos
March 29, 2023

Everyone saw the images of dripped-out AI-generated Pope, right?

Trust us, if you havenā€™t, youā€™re missing out.

šŸ¤– Top Stories

Leviā€™s rolls out AI models

Taking bets for the first company to have a robot on the runway.

Great. There are AIs that can generate fake images of people.

Awesome. Now. What's an industry that would love to use this. Say, for images of people wearing clothes?

Bingo.

Leviā€™s realized this too. Today they announced theyā€™re partnering with Lalaland.ai, a fashion company that provides AI-generated models.

Cue backlash.

So much backlash, they edited their own press release:

We realize there is understandable sensitivity around AI-related technologies, and we want to clarify that this pilot is something we are on track to experiment with later this year in the hopes of strengthening the consumer experience. Today, industry standards for a photoshoot will generally be limited to one or two models per product. Lalaland.aiā€™s technology, and AI more broadly, can potentially assist us by allowing us to publish more images of our products on a range of body types more quickly.

Leviā€™s, of course, claims noble intentions. They say they can show a greater variety of models on their website. If your body type is not represented by who they took photos with, you can select an AI model thatā€™s closer.

Seems their customers arenā€™t convinced.

Despite the backlash, theyā€™re not backing down. And who knows, this might be useful.

Bottom line: Every retailer will consider this. Guaranteed.

šŸ‘€ A new AI search engine enters the arena

I am too used to Google.

Google and Bing have some competition for AI search.

Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine, raised $26.5mm from some blue-chip investors. Names like Databricks Ventures, and the former CEOs of Github and Snowflake.

Perplexity's search engine lets you start "threads" and ask basic questions. Each response has a summary, sources, and related questions.

All AI-powered.

It's far from the chat-style experience of ChatGPT. That's where they might have an edge.

Google distanced Bard, its AI chatbot, from its search engine. Microsoft is integrating Bing and ChatGPT hard. Perplexity seems to be more focused on intuitive answers to queries, rather than full blown conversations.

Still, as weā€™ve seen, the better product in search is up against a titan: user habits. People love Google. It will be tough to crack that, no matter how good the AI.

šŸ˜¬ Britain canā€™t decide who is responsible for regulating AI

While the EU sorts out regulating AI, Britain has made a decision.

That solution? Divide the responsibility of AI regulation between three different agencies.

Checks and balances and all that.

Regulatory responsibility will split between offices for human rights, health and safety, and competition.

As with all things government, this will a) move slowly, and b) likely impact how AI develops in Britain.

Zooming out, it's tough to envision how governments will craft effective AI legislation. Protecting the consumer's right to privacy and security is above all else. Doing that in the age of AI is...daunting.

šŸ˜Ž AI tools, tips, links

  1. Replace Siri with ChatGPT. Learn more

  2. Google Cloud gets an AI win. Learn more

  3. Seriously, use ChatGPT to help you code. Learn more

  4. Run GPT on your Mac. Learn more

  5. Icons in Midjourney. Learn more

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