These models gave up photoshoots to sell their AI likenesses
For Andrei Burak, modeling was mostly a side gig—a way to make a little cash as he worked his way up from lighting assistant to producer after moving from Belarus to Los Angeles five years ago. He did a number of photoshoots and even walked in LA Fashion Week twice, but at times, modeling was “super stressful," he said, between the long waits in casting lines, probing questions from casting directors and constant rejection. Burak isn’t standing in any more casting lines these days.
Earlier this year, he uploaded a few dozen photos of himself, including selfies and professional shots from his portfolio to AI Fashion, a platform that pays models to use their likenesses in artificial-intelligence-generated images for fashion campaigns and e-commerce sites. Brands can now connect with him via AI Fashion and he can approve or deny their offers. If he approves, AI Fashion will be able to generate photos of him modeling that brand’s apparel.
“It’s a great opportunity," he said. AI Fashion is a source of passive income while he focuses on running his production company. Other startups in the market use AI to generate images of models posing in a brand’s outfits.
AI Fashion’s differentiating factor, according to co-founder and Chief Executive Daniel Citron, is its focus on keeping real models involved in the process. And in many ways the company is a bet that brands will opt to do that, either because of not wanting to cut models out of the creative process or the reputational risk associated with solely relying on AI models. Last year, Levi Strauss received backlash over its partnership with Lalaland AI because of its promise to represent clothing on more diverse bodies.
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