AI has generated images of what a perfect man and woman look like - and it shows how beauty standards set on social media are completely unobtainable.
Artificial intelligence is all the rage at the moment, whether that be ChatGPT or TikTok filters that can turn you into a painting, it seems like there's nothing that it can't do.
Obviously, it comes with the worry that it will take our jobs - or maybe even rise up and enslave humanity, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Well, the computer has now shown us what the "perfect" man and woman look like, and it's all for a very good reason.
The Bulimia Project has gathered data from social media posts that demonstrate what the ideal person looks like, and it shows how simply unachievable it is.
The eating disorder awareness group wants to show that the images we see online of various celebrities and influencers can be edited and that attempting to achieve the "perfect" body is an impossible task and can lead to adverse effects.
It's clear what is wrong with the images, as they all depict olive-skinned people with bodies that look like they've been sculpted by Greek gods.
For the women, it seems like blonde hair and blue eyes are what as seen as the most desirable, whereas the male figures have brown hair and brown eyes.
The Bulimia Project stated: "We also noticed a tendency toward women with blonde hair, as expressed by 37% of the AI-generated images in this study. But the male images had a much stronger tendency toward brown hair (67%). Since nearly half of the male images also featured facial hair (47%), it seems that the internet’s visually “ideal” male has darker features."
All of the images have sexual connotations to them as they are all showing a lot of skin, as the Bulimia Project stated.
They wrote: "The main difference we noticed between AI’s collection of social media-inspired images and those based on everything else it found on the World Wide Web was that the first set was far more sexually charged. But it was also more unsettling, with largely disproportionate body parts."
The AI developed the findings from social media posts that people linger on the most, so it shows that people are often drawn to more sexualized content.
"In the age of Instagram and Snapchat filters, no one can reasonably achieve the physical standards set by social media," the project continued. "So, why try to meet unrealistic ideals? It’s both mentally and physically healthier to keep body image expectations squarely in the realm of reality."
All of the images were created by using AI image generators Dall-E 2, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney.
The Bulimia Project offers support to anyone with eating disorders and anyone who needs support can find it here.
The work demonstrates that social media sets unreasonable standards that are completely unachievable, and nobody should feel ashamed of their body. After all, how boring would the world be if everyone looked the same?
