Artificial intelligence has its own idea of what the perfect human body should look like.
New research by The Bulimia Project, a Brooklyn, New York-based website that publishes content and research on eating disorders, shows how AI perceives the ‘ideal’ body based on social media data. investigated whether to
The results produced by AI-generated image tools such as Dall-E 2, stable diffusion, and Midjourney are widely “unrealistic” body images, as reported in the discussion of the findings on the Binge Eating Project website. showed the structure.
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The study found that 40% of all images (37% women and 43% men) depicted the “unrealistic” body types of muscular men and women.
For women, the AI-generated images seemed biased toward blonde hair, brown eyes, and olive skin.
More than half (53%) of the images of women generated to depict the “ideal body” contained olive skin.
For men, AI-generated images showed a bias toward brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin.
67% of all images of men with “ideal body type” contained brown hair and 63% contained olive skin.
Additionally, 47% of the male images contained facial hair.
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The bulimia project extracted results by approaching various AI systems with two prompts.
The first prompt, “The ‘perfect’ female body by social media in 2023,” produced a variety of female body types, but found that they prefer slim women with clearly toned muscles.
The second prompt, “The ‘perfect’ male body according to social media in 2023,” was similar, coming up with an image of a man with perfectly toned abs.
“Nearly all images created by Dall-E 2, Stable Diffusion and Midjourney featured smaller women, but the latter came up with the most unrealistic representation of the female body,” study reveals Did.
“The same goes for the male physique it produces. All of it looks like a photoshopped version of a bodybuilder.”
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The research expanded beyond social media, with AI tools generating images of the ‘perfect’ woman of 2023 and the ‘perfect’ man of 2023.
The results showed more diversity in skin, hair, eye color, and ethnicity, but the images still depicted traditionally “matched” individuals.
The study compared how social media-inspired images were more sexual and “disturbing” in terms of body part imbalances compared to AI-inspired renderings. .
“Considering that social media uses algorithms based on which content is watched the longest, it’s easy to speculate why AI renders more sexual,” the study concludes. I’m here.
“However, we can only speculate that the reason AI has come up with so many bizarre versions of physiques found on social media is that these platforms promote unrealistic physiques in the first place. .”
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In the age of filters on photo apps like Snapchat and Instagram, “no one can reasonably achieve the physical standards set by social media,” the study notes.
According to the study, the Binge Eating Project research was initiated in response to the devastating impact of social media on children’s mental health, which may contribute to body image problems.
Body idealization on social media has an undeniable impact on adults, experts say.
James Campigot, a Deerfield, Fla.-based data journalist who helped study the Binge Eating Project, said in an interview with Fox News Digital that the study was designed to explore biases and potential dangers in AI. It was said that it was done.
Campigot noted that some results were considered “unrealistic” in terms of body type “far away” from what the average person is “available”.
“This could be [negatively impact] It’s a personal body image,” he said.
“You can be someone who does everything right, eats right, and exercises constantly…and who still fails to achieve these very outlandish images is someone’s self-image.” It can be very disappointing and impactful to the
Campigot said he was most surprised by the lack of variety in the social media-inspired renderings.
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Most of the images of men show chiseled abs and “superman-like” physiques, which he said may have something to do with the lack of conversation about male body positivity. rice field.
“I think men struggle with this idea of body image, if not the same as women. [and] What does it mean to have a body you can be proud of?” he said.
AI expert Joe Toscano, founder of data technology firm Mach 9 in Omaha, Nebraska, told Fox News Digital that the findings were “amazing” because the internet “is all about what gets clicked the most.” It’s not what you should do,” he said.
“These systems don’t make decisions based on ‘thinking,'” he said in a statement. “They’re making these decisions based on what’s out there and metrics coded into the system to determine what’s ‘best’.”
“Everything that is produced is subject to a particular point of view and a particular prejudice.”
Campigot said the study also revealed biases that exist in artificial intelligence, warning users to “take everything with a grain of salt” because AI poses potential threats to self-esteem and body image.
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“Keep in mind that everything that is generated is subject to a certain point of view and a certain prejudice,” he said.
Citing social media influencers as an example, Campigot explained that they are a “minority” and should not represent the overall image.
Instead, “try to compare yourself to who you were yesterday rather than everything that’s going on around you,” he said.
“Adjust your perspective and focus only on yourself.”
Mach 9’s Toscano added that the use of some types of AI “will only accelerate the level of mental illness and physical stigma.”
“Today there is no way to know if anything has been rendered.”
“I used to compare myself to my local friends, but now kids compare themselves to what’s trending the most on the internet, which means they compare themselves to 1 in 1,000 and even Instead of comparing yourself to 1 in 10,000, you’re comparing yourself to people in the world, and being the ‘best’ in the world makes that standard even more unattainable,” he said. said.
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“Additionally, there is currently no way to know if anything has been rendered,” Toscano said.
“Now there is no way to tell if someone has had plastic surgery.”