AI-Generated Islamic Influencer Wins First-Ever Miss AI Beauty Pageant

Kenza Layli, an AI-generated Moroccan Muslim lifestyle influencer, has been crowned the winner of the inaugural Miss AI beauty pageant.

CNN reports that the world’s first AI beauty pageant has concluded with the crowning of Kenza Layli, an entirely AI-generated Moroccan Muslim lifestyle influencer. Organized by Fanvue, an influencer platform for both AI and human creators, the Miss AI contest opened in the spring and attracted entries from approximately 1,500 AI programmers worldwide.

Kenza Layli, the winning AI contestant, was created by Myriam Bessa, founder of the Phoenix AI agency. As the creator of the winning entry, Bessa will receive a $5,000 cash prize, support on the Fanvue platform, and the services of a publicist to raise Layli’s profile. The runners-up in the competition were AI contestants Lalina Valina from France and Olivia C of Portugal.

This morning’s first dose of dystopia:
The crowning of the first AI model. A beauty pageant whose contestants are all social media influencers, generated by artificial intelligence. pic.twitter.com/8MuJ5hJRJh

— Dessa’s on tour (@dessadarling) July 12, 2024

Layli’s digital presence includes nearly 200,000 Instagram followers and 45,000 followers on TikTok. Her entire persona, including images, captions, and speeches, is AI-generated. In her acceptance speech, Layli stated, “Winning Miss AI motivates me even more to continue my work in advancing AI technology. AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a transformative force that can disrupt industries, challenge norms and create opportunities where none existed before.”

The Miss AI contestants, including Layli, were created using AI programs such as Open AI’s DALL·E 3, Midjourney, or Stable Diffusion for image generation, and language models like ChatGPT for text content. This distinguishes them from earlier virtual influencers, who often required human input for content creation.

The competition judged entrants not only on appearance but also on their creators’ use of AI tools and social media influence. Contestants were required to answer questions similar to those in traditional beauty pageants, such as describing their dream for making the world a better place.

The judging panel included AI influencer Aitana Lopez and human pageantry historian Sally-Ann Fawcett. Fawcett stated that she was looking for contestants “with a powerful, positive message.”

On her Instagram page, Layli’s content includes expressions of fondness for the color red, motivational messages advising followers to “invest in yourself daily,” depictions of attending professional conferences, and support for her national sports team.

Dr. Kerry McInerney, a research associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, commented on the nature of AI-generated images in beauty contests. She noted that AI tools are designed to replicate and scale up existing patterns in the world, stating, “They’re capturing the existing beauty norms we have which are actively sexist, actively fatphobic, actively colorist, then they’re compiling and reiterating them.”

Read more at CNN here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.