AI "pseudo-human" haunts cross-dressing like a ghost

Online shopping for women's clothing has become a "major trial ground" for contemporary female consumers.

— This statement is becoming a common consensus.

The old problems are already giving people headaches: The clothes are getting smaller, more transparent, more expensive, and more fragile. After buying them and wearing them twice, they deform or even turn out to be completely different from the pictures. The return rate is approaching 70%...

People thought this was the bottom of the women's clothing industry.

It wasn't until AI began to "empower" women's clothing e - commerce on a large scale that people realized —

What happened before was just a minor disturbance at best. The real doomsday has just officially arrived.

Image source: Xiaohongshu @Gouzi Pipi, authorized

Now, when you open any women's clothing store, it's hard to tell whether the models on the homepage are real people or not.

Every face seems familiar, and every pose looks like a copy - paste.

Image source: Xiaohongshu @Hezi, authorized

"I thought I was choosing clothes, but actually I was just watching a fake - person fashion show..."

AI "Fake People" Invade Women's Clothing in Batches

"It is recommended to download an anti - fraud app before buying women's clothing."

If you're planning to buy summer clothes recently, you must have come across these strange "selfies in front of the mirror".

The models hold their phones to cover their whole faces and pace back and forth in front of the camera.

Whether it's outdoors or indoors, details like the skirt hem and hair seem to be programmed, floating in the wind precisely according to a certain pattern.

It's like an automatic loop playback.

Image source: Douyin

Some stores are honest enough to indicate "AI - generated" at the bottom. More merchants are too lazy to even type this line.

All the product pictures you see are "as real as a real person", but they are all those "assembly - line average faces" that you'll forget as soon as you turn your head.

If the game of catching geese could be this easy, I would have cleared it long ago. Image source: Xiaohongshu @Shanxun, authorized

So during this year's 618, the focus of netizens' discussion is no longer about cross - store full - reduction, platform coupons...

Instead, it's — "After scrolling through a store for a long time, I thought I wasn't choosing clothes but playing a match - 3 game or a spot - the - difference game."

Image source: Xiaohongshu @Hezi, authorized

"In my opinion, the most suitable scenario for these mass - produced AI pictures is not shopping but being used as Google captchas —

Please find the model with a different hairstyle in the following picture."

Image source: Xiaohongshu @Jiangjiangjiang Jiang, authorized

It's not enough for one store to do this. It's the same when you change stores, brands, and styles.

The mass - produced AI people have flooded the screens.

To create a full - fledged atmosphere, they mainly rely on thick filters that can plaster a wall; to highlight the clothing's cut, they mainly rely on strange poses.

In the large picture on the homepage, the model's facial contour is faintly visible, with smooth and plump skin, smiling slightly at you outside the screen —

It might not be a smile, just a few pixels' difference in the lip curl.

Image source: Xiaohongshu @Sun Xiaoman, authorized

After seeing too many, you'll even feel a chill down your back.

Wait a minute. Didn't I just see this one? Is it like getting stuck in a loop when buying a piece of clothing online now?

Image source: Xiaohongshu @Cream Pineapple Bun, authorized

Because these models are infinitely close to real people but full of flaws in details, such as empty eyes, deformed fingers, and chaotic light and shadow...

After looking at them for a long time, it's hard not to feel physically uncomfortable. "There is a 'uncanny valley' in the women's clothing industry."

Image source: Xiaohongshu comment section

The visual discomfort is not the most important thing.

"To be honest, we can tolerate AI - generated news broadcasts, AI - made video shots, and AI - assisted office work...

But in the clothing industry, what's the point of using AI models? You're selling clothes, not refined wallpapers!"

Have you forgotten?

The core reference factors for online - shopping clothes, such as the fit of the cut, the thickness and breathability of the fabric, the draping texture of the cloth, and the effect on ordinary people... All of these require real - person try - ons and cannot be imagined out of thin air by algorithms.

Image source: Xiaohongshu @Sun Xiaoman, authorized

The AI that strives for perfection has indeed played a certain role in "redefining the value" of clothes for sellers —

An ordinary and affordable T - shirt, through adding filters, can give the luster and texture of top - grade silk;

An ordinary A - line skirt can directly show an amazing proportion that ordinary people can never have.

It's really a bit "devilish"... Image source: Upstream News

But for consumers, once the filter is added, all the flaws are gone, and the reference value becomes zero.

Every time you choose women's clothing, it's like Detective Di Renjie solving a case. You must carefully check for traps before placing an order.

Zoom in on the picture, look at the reflection in the model's pupils to judge if it has been retouched;

Count the number of fingers and toes to judge if it's an AI;

Finally, analyze the light and shadow texture on the face in the picture to judge if it's a real - person wearing effect...

Image source: Xiaohongshu

After a series of cumbersome operations, finally with some doubts "This should be a real - person shot", you place an order —

When you receive the goods, you may still be shocked.

In a store where even the models are AI - generated, anything can happen.

The most common thing is goods that are completely different from the pictures. The pictures look gorgeous, but the actual product's cut and fabric are totally different.

You, me, this, sigh... Image source: Xiaohongshu @Cream Pineapple Bun, authorized

Even more outrageous is that some merchants don't even have the goods.

"Dear, since the clothes are AI - generated and haven't been produced yet, they are on pre - sale/awaiting fabric/being rushed to make. Please be patient..."

Maybe after you place an order, the merchant will start looking for a factory to make a sample. Whether it can be made and what it will look like depends entirely on luck.

After all, in some stores, even the buyer's show, which is one of the few defenses for consumers to avoid pitfalls, has been completely invaded by AI.

Image source: Weibo topic

You'll never know whether those "five - star reviews + perfect wearing pictures" are real feedback from buyers or fictitious content mass - produced by merchants using prompt words.

Image source: Xiaohongshu @Weier, authorized

With so many tricks piled up, consumers who really want to shop have lost their way in this AI wave.

It seems that our women's clothing industry has finally achieved "unmanned operation" —

No real - life models, no real - life photographers, no real - life customer service, and no real clothes.

I'm just asking, is women's clothing part of your AI play?

When "fake people" start to dominate every corner of women's clothing e - commerce, the resulting chaos is not limited to issues like goods not matching the pictures.

In the general environment of AI anxiety, a complete industrial chain has quietly taken shape:

Upstream platforms sell AI