Beauty is in the AI of the beholder

Just when you thought we've reached Peak Absurdity on our relentless march toward the robo-apocalypse, we are proven wrong. Today's example? A beauty contest for computer-generated women. 

The Miss AI contest is just like a regular beauty contest, only all of the contestants (and some of the judges) are AI generated. In addition to being judged on appearance, poise, grace, and how well they fill out a bathing suit, these binary beauties are judged on how 'realistic' they look [1], as well as their social media clout. They're also asked to answer a series of questions, such as "What would be your one dream to make the world a better place?" [2]

The Miss AI contest is the brainchild of a group calling itself the World AI Creator Awards, and hopes to become "the Oscars of the AI creator economy," per WAICA co-founder Will Monange. The contest was announced last April, and 1,500 AI creators submitted entries, vying for a $5,000 first prize. Earlier this month, WAICA announced the ten finalists.

All that's missing is an amniotronic Bert Parks singing, "Here she is, Miss Artificial Intelligence..." 

But these digital dames are anything but shallow AI-generated Barbie dolls. They support important real-world issues. Per NPR:

Like real life pageants, the Miss AI contestants' social media feeds talk about the good causes the character supports. For example, the French avatar Anne Kerdi is a brand ambassador for the ocean conservation fund Océanopolis Acts, and Romania’s Aiyana Rainbow is described as an LGBTQ advocate.

To complete the absurdity, the contest is being judged by two humans and two AI creations.

Can you tell the human judges from the AI? (Hint: The people are the ones without fake boobs.) The other two are highly successful spokesbot influencers for brands that have received a lot of online attention from men hoping to ask them out on a date.

Porn to be wild

What exactly is the point of all this? Getting people to talk about it. And judging by that, it's a huge success. As marketing stunts go, this one is kind of brilliant.

The AI beauty contest is sponsored by FanVue, a UK-based competitor to OnlyFans. Together, these two sites ensure that any person regardless of race, creed, color, gender, or possession of human DNA can realize their lifelong dreams of becoming a dime store porn star. [3] 

For example, both of the bot judges have popular accounts on FanVue. And that makes perfect sense — at least, in this AI simulation of reality that we are all desperately hoping to escape.  Instagram influencers, ad spokesmodels, porn stars; all are viable career options for digital simulations. 

Let's be honest here for a moment. Easily 90 percent of advertising is designed to attract the (hetero) male gaze. Sex sells. It always has. 

Here's a fun fact, per Google's AI search assistant:

The earliest known use of sex in advertising was in 1871 by the Pearl Tobacco brand, which featured a painting of a naked Venus-like figure on its cigarette packets. In 1885, W. Duke & Sons, another tobacco company, began inserting trading cards into their cigarette packs that featured sexually provocative starlets.

Men are simple creatures

The controls for the male gaze are located somewhere deep inside the lizard brain. It operates like a light switch — it's either on or off. And it doesn't care if it's looking at an image of a real (carefully lit, heavily photoshopped) woman, or a fake one. 

You can argue that beauty contests in 2024 are a) misogynistic, b) stupid by design, and c) well past their pull date, and you'd be right on all three counts. And you can certainly make the point that these AI creations exaggerate already-impossible standards for feminine beauty.

On the other hand, we're not getting away from sexually oriented advertising any time in the forseeable future. And isn't this a job that's perfect for robots? Wouldn't it be better if the tens of millions of young women who are desperately trying to be the next Big Instafluencer by posting bikini videos on Tik-Tok spent their time doing something better, like designing environmentally sustainable packaging or registering their BFFs to vote? 

AI is coming for a lot of our jobs, mine included. That's unfortunate but inevitable. But letting it become the next generation of beauty queens and porn stars isn't the worst thing that could happen.

I've been gone for a couple of weeks — did you miss me? Say hello in the comments below, or email me: [email protected].

[1] In this context, 'realistic' means not having six fingers or a third eye, not as in whether these femme-bots resemble actual flesh-and-blood females. 

[2] Oh, I don't know — maybe spending more time on something less inane?

[3] According to the TechReport website, 98 percent of OnlyFans content is adult in nature. Leaving the question, what the heck are those other 2 percent doing?