The field of AI (and computer science in general) is highly male dominated, and it can be difficult to find emerging technology products specifically designed for women, by women. Pinar Yanardag and I are exploring how AI-tools can create products for women, and furthermore, how these tools can empower designers and novices alike. So far, we’ve created AI-generated fashion designs, perfume, jewelry, and LBD-AI is our latest creation.
We were initially inspired by the 1920s Little Black Dress (LBD) concept. The little black dress is considered as an essential item for any women's wardrobe. We wondered how artificial intelligence could reimagine the little black dress. The result was a combination of unexpected and enchanting - the design featured a normal sleeve accompanied by a bell sleeve, asymmetric details and more!
We launched to establish baseline interest levels in our work. We shared our website with women in STEM, and the feedback has been largely positive, with many women suggesting they’d wear an AI generated dress as a conversation piece. We also got a request for a version with pockets! Fashion is an extension of one’s identity, and these women were particularly excited to wear clothing that reflected their passion for technology. After seeing the feedback from many women in STEM, we decided to start a photo project to celebrate and highlight female scientists at MIT, sharing their stories and photos while they wear our AI-generated dress designs.
In the midst of this ‘AI awakening’ where machines are becoming increasingly good at many ‘human’ jobs, people are worried that AI will ultimately lead to mass unemployment. On the contrary, we believe that humans and machines can work together to enhance each other’s complementary strengths and skills to achieve the most creative and productive innovations.
Furthermore, we believe that democratized AI-systems have the potential to unleash hidden creativity and empower people from all backgrounds and skill levels. In particular, AI makes art and design accessible for the public by eliminating the need for technical skill and practice (imagine tools that allow you to create unique fashion designs just in a matter of seconds)!
Humans and AI systems have complimentary skills. AI systems are optimized to analyze vast amounts of data, extracting features and making unexpected connections between them. Humans provide unique insight such as emotions, empathy, creativity and critical thinking. We think of our AI system as another member of the team, and we believe that we achieve amazing results through collaboration. We experienced this phenomenon first hand: the AI came up with a unique dress design such as a dress with one bell sleeve and one normal sleeve, pointy shoulders, asymmetric neck and skirt details, which inspired us to create LBD-AI!
Our work is powered by Nvidia's StyleGAN tool! [to be continued]
