Model Sues Fashion Brand After it AI-Generated Pictures of Her

AI is wreaking havoc in the fashion industry. Brands are taking advantage of the technology to pump out low-cost images of their products in a seismic shift that is wiping out clothing catalog models while also reducing work for photographers.

The New York Post reports on a lawsuit filed on May 22 in the New York Supreme Court by fashion model Francheska Pujols against budget clothing retailer Rainbow Shops.

Pujols, a New York-based model, accuses Rainbow of photographing her in the brand’s clothing items against a plain white background and then using AI to generate entirely different images. Pujols says some of the AI pictures are “crude” and harm her reputation as a high-end model. The suggestive pictures include a hyper-realistic image of Pujol with her legs spread over a barstool, and an image of her with her head on another model’s lap while holding a cocktail.

The original photo, left, and the AI image, right. | Photo via New York State the Unified Court System / The New York Post

According to The New York Post, the contract that Pujols entered into with Rainbow allowed the fashion brand to make minor edits to the photos, but not create entirely new ones.

After the contract expired, Pujols accused Rainbow of continuing to use her likeness in AI images that she didn’t approve. She sent a cease and desist letter in March when the contract expired, but Rainbow ignored it.

Pujols says that not only is she not being paid by Rainbow for using her images, but the images themselves tarnish her professional image. Pujols has starred in Hood Deals on Amazon Prime, and appeared on the front cover of Canadian fashion magazine Vigour.

When contacted by The New York Post, Rainbow denied any wrongdoing, stating that, “we used our images properly and there’s no violation of her rights.”

After initially demanding a jury trial, Pujols pulled the lawsuit on Friday. The model’s lawyer tells The Post that both parties are “seeking to resolve this matter privately.”

Customers ‘Don’t Care’

Generative AI technology is disrupting established copyright frameworks and challenging long-standing industry norms. Browsing through Rainbow Shops’ Instagram page and it appears at least some of the posts have been AI-generated. Like the one below, for example, it seems as if the sketch has been used as a prompt. PetaPixel has reached out to Rainbow for clarification.

Strategic business attorney Joshua R. Bressler tells The New York Post that these issues are “coming fast and furious” and that “we’re very much in the throes of sorting all this out.”

Alarmingly, another attorney, Anthony Lupo, tells The Post that AI will soon replace clothing catalog models and customers “don’t care” who the models are.

“You’re always going to have supermodels, you’re always going to have runway shows, you’re going to have anything where you’re spending major money,” Lupo, an expert in fashion law, says.

“But that accounts for 15% of what companies do. The other 85% is just day to day, ‘I need somebody to wear this.’ The less established models are going to have real problems making a living just doing modeling.”

Last year, PetaPixel reported that Swedish clothing retailer H&M began rolling out AI-generated clones of its models.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.