The artificial intelligence behind beauty standards

Yes, everybody knows artificial intelligence: robots, e-commerce brands, chatbots. But not only: artificial intelligence is also part of the world of aesthetics. Good or bad?

Once determined by the media or the advertising giants, the "canons" of beauty are now defined by AI and algorithms. Fueled by our data, these algorithms encourage us to modify our consumption habits and comply with the standards of social platforms. Because beyond physical beauty, this empire of measure also extends to our psychic.

But who is behind these calculations that govern our lives? Racial and sexual biases have repercussions on AI "tastes" in terms of beauty and fashion. At a time when we are advocating body positivism and the acceptance of differences in style and beauty, there is a problem.

Today, our first mirror is that of our phone. The digital age seems to have only accelerated the conforming and consolidation of traditional "canons". The bodies are hyper-sexualized and we are constantly confronted with an idealized physique that hardly conforms to reality.

The body - of the woman in particular - becomes an optimized body, staged on images posted on social networks, which dictate its aesthetics. In other words, the appearance of these women is programmed and their faces optimized by filters are no longer the same as natural.

The muses change. We rely on creatures 100% made in algorithms, which push the retouched aesthetic to the extreme on all sides of beauty influencers. For example, Lil Miquela is just the barely overdone image of Kylie Jenner. Journalist Amanda Hess called these influencers "social media fembot" in a New York Times article.

We barely have time to become aware of our physical body that we must already take care of our digital body. Now our avatars have a full identity, and we have to treat them like real individuals. These identities suffer from Second Life syndrome. We create a virtual "me", a little more beautiful, a little more intelligent and a little richer than the real "me".

In the field of fashion, the Scandinavian retailer Carlings has surfed this trend to release an entire collection of digital clothing. Internet users could then buy the part by posting a photo of their avatars wearing it virtually.

So yes, we can say that artificial intelligence forces us to follow predefined beauty standards, depending on our age, gender or even our skin colour. But is it not because man demands this fact, that he forces it? When some use social platforms to impose their standards of beauty, others use them for artistic purposes. Johanna Jaskowska, for example, used filters to turn faces into works of art. John Yuyi uses digital bodies as surfaces of struggle and resistance. Finally, we can cite Matières Fécales which uses social networks to give its interpretation of the consumption cycle in the fashion sector and denounce the excesses.

- Blandine