Meet the AI-generated women in the ‘Miss AI’ beauty pageant

TThe beauty pageant industry isn’t what it used to be. Miss Universe, which has been running since 1952, has suffered a dramatic decline in viewership over the past five years. In May, the current Miss USA and Miss Teen USA returned their crowns, sparking new controversy in the community.

However, a new type of beauty contest has emerged. This pageant is similar in many ways to the traditional experience, except for one important detail: the women are not real.

O World AI Creator Awards (WAICAS) brought together 10 finalists in their quest to find “Miss AI,” the winner of an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated beauty pageant for women. The finalists, chosen from 1,500 entries, come from teams of creators from around the world. Creators use programs like Open AI’s DALL·E 3, Midjourney, or Stable Diffusion to generate images of women from different text prompts.

These AI-generated women still follow stereotypical beauty standards, with thin bodies and young faces. Open AI has previously acknowledged that it considers “DALL-E 3’s default to generate images of people that match stereotypical and conventional beauty ideals.” Computer vision experts and the Algorithmic Justice League have also discovered racial biases in facial analysis technology.

In an email to TIME, the WAICAS team addressed concerns around the perpetuation of traditional beauty standards, saying they want to focus on “celebrating diversity and realism.”

“It’s not about imposing unrealistic standards, but about realistic creators representing real people,” they said. “Traditional pageantry has taken decades to evolve and be more representative – although AI can do this quickly, which is really exciting.

These contestants will be judged based on three criteria: beauty, technology and influence. Influence can come in many ways, but the majority of AI-generated women are online influencers.

O World AI Creator Awards (WAICA) Instagram The page features 10 posts, introducing the public to each of the AI-generated women. One contestant, Kenza Layli, It is said to “contribute to the empowerment of women in Morocco and the Middle East”, with its almost 200,000 followers. Other, Olivia C from Portugal, is presented as a “traveler”, showing how technology can “enhance the human experience, not replace it”. Meanwhile, other AI-generated avatars Aiyana Rainbow Profile includes iconography from the queer community, adorned with rainbows in many posts, and is an “embodiment of LGBTQIA+ inclusion and acceptance.”

It can be easy to forget that these women aren’t real, as each has a detailed personality described on their Instagram page. But everything was generated by AI, from their interests and hobbies, to the hairstyle of their hair and the beaches they are lying on.

The pageant will be judged, in part, by two people: Andrew Bloch, a media consultant, and Sally-Ann Fawcett, a beauty pageant historian and author. They will be joined by two AI-generated influencers, Aitana Lopez and Emily Pellegrini, to judge the artistry of each meticulously selected AI contestant.

According to the contest website, the overall contest winner will receive items including a $5,000 cash prize and public relations support worth more than $5,000.

The winner will be announced on Monday, July 8, via an announcement video on the World AI Creator Awards social channels.