Navigating AI In Beauty: Transparency, Customer Focus And Diversity

The beauty industry has witnessed a paradigm shift with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing campaigns. From AI-generated product descriptions to AI-generated images and videos, the landscape is evolving rapidly. As we embrace the potential of AI, it's essential to keep transparency, customer experience and real diversity in focus.

Transparency and Responsible Usage

AI-generated content, including product descriptions, website copy, images and videos have become a powerful tool for brands. In particular, AI-generated images and videos can offer a dynamic way to showcase products and create visually compelling campaigns. However, their usage comes with a set of considerations for founders, marketers and executives and raises questions about the ethical implications of using AI.

Designer-created renders, like this image of our Humble Powder Cleanser, have been the norm in the CPG industry for years. These types of images are often used in product listings online and can help customers better understand what a product may look like in ideal situations.

While AI-generated images serve a similar function, some brands are using this technology to present images that may not reflect reality. In response, OpenAI has started including metadata that identifies images that were generated by their products and Meta has committed to labeling AI-generated images. Transparency can help address some concerns around these images, but it doesn’t replace brand authenticity or responsible usage of AI-generated images.

Prioritizing Customers

While AI presents exciting possibilities, there are instances where its implementation has missed the mark and brands have forgotten about their customers. In this example, customers expressed disappointment that a brand chose to use AI-generated images instead of hiring people of color as models and creatives on a product photoshoot. Customers also pointed out the images were not an accurate representation of the brand’s products and the images were only labeled as AI-generated on social media, leaving them with negative feelings about the brand.

Similarly, this giant mascara comb on the London tube, made with computer-generated imagery (CGI), was a marketing stunt that prioritized clicks and left social media users wondering if it was real. While overall sentiment was positive, it remains to be seen if the campaign truly generated customer engagement and sales.

Marketers should learn from these examples and continue to prioritize their customers. With the growing number of tools available, it remains important to truly understand customers, and craft campaigns that resonate with customers’ diverse identities, values and needs.

Diversity in Training Data and AI-Generated Images

Behind AI-generated images and videos, there is the training data used to create an AI model. It’s crucial to recognize that the majority of training data for beauty-related images often follows Western beauty standards, and can be biased towards perpetuating narrow, exclusionary beauty ideals. Brands need to actively address this imbalance by ensuring that training data includes a diverse and representative set of people and models in images.

At the same time, brands should also recognize that an AI-generated image of a person of color is not the same as hiring a person of color as a model. Brands should consider whether their diversity efforts are truly making a difference or just checking a box.

Balancing Innovation with Responsibility

AI’s integration into beauty marketing offers tremendous potential, but the responsibility lies with brands and marketers to use this tool ethically and responsibly. Transparency, customer experience and diversity are three pillars to consider when creating meaningful and inclusive marketing.