ASICS Challenge AI’s Unrealistic ‘Healthy’ Body Representation
May 5, 2023
Leading sports brand ASICS has launched a new AI (Artificial Intelligence) training program to combat the unrealistic images of ‘healthy’ bodies that AI platforms reportedly generate. Research commissioned by the brand found that 72% of people believe AI pictures generated from the prompt 'exercise' showed an unreasonable body type for people to strive for. ASICS believes it’s important that AI is taught to unlearn dangerous stereotypes that could reverse years of work to improve self-confidence and mental wellbeing.
AI tools are increasingly shaping culture and are now being utilized by many sectors – everything from medical advice, advertising for media campaigns and virtual personal trainers. AI tools like Midjourney generate images based on what the internet thinks something is or what it looks like – usually coming close to reality – using large amounts of data. However, this blur between reality and fantasy is dangerous territory when it affects the way real people are depicted.
When you ask AI to portray someone who is healthy and exercises the images produced are of people with minimal body fat, chiseled jaws and muscles – some even with 12-pack abs. ASICS states that AI has been taught that exercise is purely for physical transformations and this is feeding into unrealistic body standards, which is damaging people’s mental wellbeing.
According to a study conducted on behalf of ASICS, seven in 10 people believe that AI-generated images could cause people to develop worries about their own bodies. When asked how AI exercise images made them feel, the common responses were ‘unfit’, ‘inferior’, ‘unattractive’ and ‘insecure’. 60% felt that AI images focused solely on aesthetics and 70% felt that good mental health is the most important benefit of regular exercise.
The feelings of demotivation to the point of exclusion from exercise and unrealistic depictions of real people are what pushed ASICS to take action through its new initiative. The brand partnered with AI Expert, Omar Karim to create the AI Training program – a bank of images of real people enjoying exercise for the feeling, not aesthetics, combined with bespoke lines of code and AI prompts to help AI systems “learn what exercise really looks like.”
“AI is an extremely impressive tool and its possibilities are endless. While it’s exciting that AI can be used in so many interesting ways, it’s extremely important that it’s taught to accurately represent the world and people around us,” shares Karim. “One of the interesting parts about the way AI works is that it learns from the years of content shared online. Therefore, it’s on us to ensure that AI is taught to unlearn what could be potentially harmful. What we are looking at is today’s equivalent of airbrushing, only it’s being done automatically and without human judgment.”
ASICS is calling on leading AI platforms to teach their AI tools what normal exercise looks and feels like through its new program. It’s also inviting the public to play a role too by sharing images of themselves exercising on social with the hashtag #TrainingAI and tagging ASICS. These images will be inputted into the program's image bank.