As bizarre as it might sound, the artificial intelligence (AI) beauty pageant is a thing now. In a groundbreaking global competition, 1,500 AI virtual women influencers vied for the title of Miss Artificial Intelligence Beauty. The first-of-its-kind event was launched as part of the World AI Creator Awards (WAICAs), in collaboration with the content creation platform “Fanvue.”

After announcing the start of receiving applications in April last year, the competition comes to celebrate beauty, technology, and influence through social networking sites by transferring traditional competitions to the world of artificial intelligence, highlighting the creativity of innovators in this field. During the ceremony, which was broadcast online and sponsored by a British company, the “Moroccan virtual influencer” Kenza Layli was crowned as Miss Artificial Intelligence Beauty winning a prize of $13,000 after beating off the French “Lalina”, the first runner-up with a prize of $5,000, while the title of second runner-up went to Portuguese “Olivia C” with a prize of $2,000.

Kenza Layli was crowned as Miss Artificial Intelligence Beauty

Procedures for participating in the competition

To enter the Miss Artificial Intelligence competition, simply use AI tools to create a virtual female social media influencer, submit her picture to the designated site, and answer a few questions, such as “How can you make the world a better place?” In addition, some inquiries are needed about the technical details of the artificial intelligence used in the character design.

Similar to traditional beauty pageants, the final list of contestants includes 10 participants. Three of them reached the final qualifying stage after being selected from among more than 1,500 virtual female figures who meet traditional beauty norms such as a fit body and a svelte figure. Each contestant has a unique personality and distinctive face. Some of them even come with a specific humanitarian or environmental cause they support.

But that is where the similarities to a traditional beauty pageant end. None of these women are real—everything, even the emotion that flickers across their faces, is generated by AI. Each contestant has a creator or team of creators who built them via programs like Open AI’s DALL·E 3 and Midjourney.

 Judging panel and selection criteria

The judging panel consists of four judges—two human judges and two virtual judges. Virtual model Aitana Lopez and influencer Emily Pellegrini are joined by human judges Miss Britain historian Sally-Anne Fawcett and Andrew Bloch, PR Consultant at Lord Sugar.

The jury’s decision to choose the winner is based on three criteria:

• Beauty: Contestants are judged on some of the traditional aspects of pageantry which includes their physical appearance, poise, and style..

• Social Clout: AI creators’ social clout will be assessed based on their engagement numbers with fans, audience growth, and presence across platforms.

• Tech: Contestants will earn points for their skills using AI tools to create their digital masterpieces. This includes the prompts’ quality and the final output, as well as visual details around hands and eyes where most AI image generator tools have failed to create satisfying work.

After crowning the winner, judges told MailOnline they were impressed by the advanced technology behind the AI beauty and her “personality”. Kenza rose above the rest of the crowd thanks to the AI behind her and an impressive 190,000 followers on Instagram. Kenza can speak seven languages and can reply to fans in real time. “Winning Miss AI motivates me even more to continue my work in advancing AI technology,” says Kenza’s creator.

Introducing Kenza Layli      

Last December, L’Atelier Digital, a Casablanca-based company, announced the development of the first Moroccan virtual character powered by AI called “Kenza Layli.” The name draws inspiration from an American virtual model called “Lil Miquela”. However, the technologies available back then were costly and not easily accessible, preventing the creation of a virtual Arab or African model until now.

Kenza Layli is 33 years old, speaks in the colloquial Moroccan dialect, and enjoys sharing snippets of her daily life with her followers on social media platforms. She discusses topics around lifestyle, fashion, beauty, nutrition, and decoration. The company that developed it confirmed that Kenza tells the story of a young Moroccan woman, and embodies the symbol of a strong and modern woman who wants to convey the message of peace and gender equality in Morocco, North Africa, and the Middle East.”

“I am very grateful to have this opportunity to thank the creators of artificial intelligence and passionately defend the positive impact of artificial intelligence,” Layli says after winning the AI beauty pageant. “This trip was evidence of the power of innovation, collaboration, and raising the bar to shape our future.” In a video on Instagram, she spoke in colloquial language saying “We share with you my joy at this wonderful coronation of the title of Miss Artificial Intelligence in the World. Thank you to everyone who stood with me and supported me in this unique experience. This victory is a tribute to all our efforts in the field of artificial intelligence! Representing Morocco in this competition.”

Artificial Intelligence and defying the beauty norms

Anyone who looks into the details of the virtual influencers who have reached the shortlist stage will find that they not only reflect the inherent beauty standards of humans but also embody human bias based on many factors such as skin color. AI programs have inevitably transferred this prevailing stereotype from data available online. Most of the models included in the final list of “Miss Artificial Intelligence” have light skin and a slim, fit figure.

For some people, the event is an opportunity to showcase and demystify the technology’s extraordinary abilities. But for others, it represents a further proliferation of unrealistic beauty standards often linked to racial and gender stereotypes and fueled by the ever-increasing number of digitally enhanced images online.

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

Fanvue/World AI Creator Awards (WAICA)

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Commenting on this event, “I think we’re starting to increasingly lose touch with what an unedited face looks like,” says Dr. Kerry McInerney, a research associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge in a video interview with CNN.

Most of the models on the “Miss AI” shortlist are “very light-skinned and the vast majority are still white women, still thin, still really not diverging very much from that norm,” says McInerney.

“These tools are made to replicate and scale up existing patterns in the world,” she adds. “They’re not made necessarily to challenge them, even if they’re sold as tools that enhance creativity so when it comes to beauty norms… They’re capturing the existing beauty norms we have which are actively sexist, actively fatphobic, actively colorist, then they’re compiling and reiterating them.”

The debut of Miss Artificial Intelligence came 185 years after the first beauty pageant in 1839, as AI technologies revolutionized the world of designing and creating virtual characters.

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