Ethical Implications in AI-Powered Trend Research Platforms
From Firenze University Press Journal: Fashion Highlight
Victoria Rodriguez Schon, Politecnico di Milano
Chiara Colombi, Politecnico di Milano
The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) powered platforms that offer a wide range of applications and services has fostered the development of new skills and tools. The popularity gained by GPT models that process natural language and AI systems1 that create images (OpenAI, 2023) has exposed a variety of uses, from text-based answers to AI-generated art. This fast-growing technology fails to find a common consensus in its definition and regulation. The rise in its adoption is the result and cause of the development of innovative technologies used (and misused) among various disciplines and industries, such as fashion (O’Neill, 2016).In particular, the use of AI in trend research — an activity particularly relevant for a futures-oriented practice as the fashion design one is and in which design and other futures-oriented disciplines find a common interest (Poli, 2019; Celi & Colombi, 2017) — opens a new field of application, for which its implications shape our futures through the very design. The interpretations drawn from the trend research phase influence the design practice, where analysing trends from a prevailed perspective only, facilitated by the unregulated and biased use of AI, may determine a single-sided future.Through an exploratory meta-study, this manuscript uncovers why understanding these implications, embedded in the use of AI-powered trend platforms, is key for the pluralisation of the fashion system. From the decolonial concept of Pluriverse (Escobar, 2018), pluralisation describes the coexistence of countless options of knowledge, being, and perception, critiquing the idea of universal norms (Tlostanova, 2017). The relevance behind the search for a pluralised fashion practice lies in fostering specific and intangible values that may transform the fashion system by defining its foundations. Involving historically marginalised voices and realising the culture of dress comprises multiple epistemologies promoting a richer practice (Jansen, 2020).The ethical implications regarding the use of AI in trend research analysis will be discussed under the parameters of technomoral virtues (Vallor, 2016), i.e., virtue ethics. Using these as a framework allows the introduction of values related to pluriversality, reflecting on today’s prioritisation of capitalist canons that put hegemonical perspectives first, intending heteronormative, patriarchal, liberal views that flatten and homogenise results and experiences. The paper searches to analyse and take a position on the emerging issue of research on AI, realising that the advantages of using AI in trend research analysis are still subject to capitalist values that often bring detrimental implications to marginalised groups. Virtue ethics also prioritises the coexistence of society and technology, evidencing the need to build contemporary virtues that “include an explicit conception of how to live well with technologies” (Vallor, 2016, p. 3). This is increasingly present in current debates regarding the role of AI, supporting the idea that it is a mere tool. Although the discussion around technological tools as means of control has been widely covered throughout history (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Foucault, 1988; Winner, 1980), the debate remains open into who handles the tool and how aiming at an efficient use and learning how to dominate it. It is then necessary for designers to maintain a critical stand and question these processes.The research proposes a first set of possible guidelines ranging from practical actions and general leading values as conclusions, these are achieved by analysing the overlapping relationship between trends, the fashion system, their incidence on the future, and the use of AI technology, delving into its ethical effects. These are semi-outputs that result from a PhD research in design, where a first literature review contextualised the research, introducing the main concepts and principles. A further phase of desk research included the examination of case examples from various AI-powered trend research platforms. The paper is structured as follows: First, we will explore the overlapping between trend research, fashion, and futures in detail, setting the context. Second, we will analyse how AI-powered trend research platforms operate, reviewing upsides and challenges. Third, the ethical implications of AI and its consequences in trend research bring an overview of the specific effects, problems, and causes. Fourth, value ethics will be used as a framework to bring virtue ethics into technology, creating the bases for a theoretical and practical proposal. Last, the guidelines and the conclusions act not as an ending remark but as a critical debate.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-2261
Read Full Text: https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/fh/article/view/2261
