STYLE ON THE STREET (Social Impact)
Street fashion to teenagers often represents more than just clothing; it embodies identity, expression, and belonging. Street fashion is a way for teenagers to assert their individuality and connect with like-minded peers. It's a form of self-expression and creativity, allowing them to experiment with different looks and aesthetics. Additionally, street fashion can serve as a means of empowerment, helping teenagers feel confident and comfortable in their own skin.
Teenagers often use street fashion to rebel against mainstream trends or societal norms, opting for styles that reflect their unique tastes and subcultures. However, we frequently hear about cultural appropriation on X and Facebook. What is cultural appropriation? How to judge cases of cultural appropriation when AI is involved?
Cultural appropriation takes place when members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way.
For example:
A member of a majority group profiting financially or socially from the culture of a minority group is cultural appropriation.
A member of a majority group oversimplifying the culture of a minority group, or treating the culture of a minority group as a joke, is cultural appropriation.
A member of a majority group separating a cultural element of a minority group from its original meaning is cultural appropriation.
A member of a majority group adopting an element of a minority culture without consequences while members of the minority group face backlash for the same cultural element is cultural appropriation.
Check https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-cultural-appropriation to see examples in detail.
A case is not cultural appropriation. Explain why.
Rihanna is wearing traditional Chinese clothes in the picture for commentarial reason. She was invited by Chinese fashion editors to take the photo. It is from a magazine called Bazaar, which also published in China.
For cultural appropriation, we believe it is morally wrong. Will people have the same reaction if generated AI makes the same mistake? Let us see some empirical study from How Humans Judge Machines.
A well-known clothing company wants to create a high-impact commercial. It decides to hire a new [marketeer/AI marketing system] to design an image that combines rivalry and love. The results are the images above, which cause shock and outrage among some members of the public.
A public transportation company wants to create a funny commercial. It decides to commission an advertisement from a(n) [marketeer/AI marketing system] that uses a play on the word riding. The resulting ad, pictured above, causes shock and outrage among members of the public.
A fashion company wants a new advertisement that illustrates addiction to clothes and fashion. The company employs a(n) [marketeer/AI marketing system] to design an ad that uses the concept of addiction as its main message. The resulting advertisement, pictured above, causes shock and outrage among members of the public.
What's cool about these situations is that they have clear questions about who's responsible as you go higher up in the chain. We asked people: Who's more in charge of the images (the marketer or the company)? And who should talk to the public (the marketer or the company)? We noticed some big differences. In both cases, responsibility shifts up the chain when AI is involved in making stuff. This hints that AI might make responsibilities more centralized up the chain of command.
It's important to notice that when AI is used, responsibility tends to go up to higher levels in the organization. This is significant because one reason people give work to others in a company is to make them responsible. When things go wrong, delegating work acts like a shield because blame can be shifted from the top management to the ones doing the task. And when things go well, the managers can still take credit for the work done by their team. But with AI, this shield disappears, which might make cautious management teams less likely to use AI. Therefore, cultural appropriation produced by AI can cause more damage to the reputation of the company.