This article is part of the Future of AI series, exploring how artificial intelligence will shape fashion and beauty.
Will AI liberate us from routine tasks, unlocking our full potential? Or will it eliminate vast numbers of jobs? Could it dramatically enhance personalization and productivity, improving everything from ads to product recommendations? Or will the massive amounts of data required be used for less tailored, even harmful, purposes?
Will AI define the future of luxury, or is it just becoming a basic tool?
“AI is becoming the floor, not the ceiling,” says Eli Promisel, managing director for Europe at innovation consultancy Silicon Foundry. “Everyone will have access to ‘good enough.’ The question is, who gets access to what is truly exceptional?”
While AI adoption varies, Promisel notes that AI acts as a “mirror, not a muse.” Its output depends entirely on the data it’s given; for now, it cannot generate truly novel ideas. Luxury, however, thrives on newness—it must convince clients who have everything that there is something new worth buying. With AI tools like ChatGPT becoming widely accessible (free or $20/month for unlimited use), and a Vogue Business survey finding two-thirds of respondents use AI chatbots at least sometimes, it raises a question: will inherently exclusive luxury move in the opposite direction?
Currently, most luxury brands are experimenting with AI, both publicly and internally. Gucci, Valentino, and Prada have used AI for campaign imagery, while some brands employ generative AI in design. Many use AI tools like chatbots and data insights for customer service and sales support. For now, humans clearly work alongside AI in luxury, but as AI’s role grows, the future balance of human oversight remains uncertain.
Will human touch become the new luxury, or will AI advance to become a luxury necessity? Or will AI simply fade into the background as we adjust to its presence? We spoke to experts about possible outcomes.
Scenario 1: AI becomes the standard—except for top clients
AI-designed clothing, AI-generated ads, and AI customer service bots may become commonplace. Some experts see this as an innovation dead-end rather than an aspiration. In response, luxury may evolve to emphasize access to real people: their ideas, creations, and advice.
The Vogue Business survey shows 46% of respondents find AI “exciting and promising for fashion’s future.” However, putting AI front-and-center in campaigns is less popular: only 24% value AI-generated fashion images as much as human-made ones. An overwhelming majority prefer fashion advice from humans over AI chatbots, with just 3% using AI for style inspiration.
This sentiment is visible online, where companies testing AI limits face backlash. “AI slop” is a common criticism of low-quality, AI-generated customer materials. “There’s that reaction because a lot of it is low quality,” says brand advisor Ana Andjelic. “If you want to create an impossible image, that’s fine, but it’s no excuse for a lack of creativity.”Ana Andjelic points out that while you might aim to create an image that defies reality, that shouldn’t be an excuse to abandon creativity altogether.
In this context, creativity will become a valuable commodity as luxury brands work to distance themselves from the flood of generic AI content. “When everyone is using AI, raising the baseline of what’s considered ‘good enough,’ the bar is climbing quickly,” says Trey Courtney, chief product and partnerships officer at Mood Media. “So how does a luxury brand stand out?”
At the same time, Courtney predicts that “the cost of human-made content will rise dramatically—and that’s what some customers will be willing to pay for.” Silvia Bellezza, associate professor of marketing at Columbia Business School, agrees. “AI is so versatile that mainstream brands will eventually adopt it across the board,” she says. “Once it becomes ubiquitous, the human touch will be the premium element. It will cost brands more, and they’ll charge even more. It’s just a matter of time.”
Scenario 2: AI as a Luxury Asset
In a recent report, Boston Consulting Group urged the luxury industry to move past its hesitation toward AI, challenging the notion that AI tools are too impersonal or imperfect for high-end client experiences. With the industry contracting and over half of surveyed clients expressing dissatisfaction with luxury shopping, the report suggested that smarter, more personalized AI tools could offer a solution.
“AI is incredibly useful for luxury because it processes vast amounts of data to deliver personalized value to each customer,” says Andjelic. “In terms of speed and efficiency, it’s a game-changer.”
This is where agentic commerce makes a strong case. This technology envisions AI so finely tuned to user preferences that it can act independently—handling tasks without constant prompting. For example, an AI agent could manage administrative duties for a busy executive, even purchasing items from Chanel’s latest collection through an assigned sales associate. With stored insights into personal taste and payment details, a new pair of Chanel pumps could arrive at a client’s door without any effort on their part.
But is this the future luxury customers want? It depends on the consumer. Andjelic notes that for many ultra-high-net-worth individuals, avoiding human interaction is itself a luxury—they already delegate shopping and admin to assistants. Whether those assistants are human or AI-driven may not matter to them.
Other potential luxury shoppers—especially those without a team of assistants—are more skeptical. In a Vogue Business survey, only 31% said they would outsource luxury shopping to an AI agent, with many citing concerns over data security, like credit card information. The question remains: Can AI evolve beyond these worries?
“The ultimate goal is for AI to enhance the human luxury experience invisibly, without ever replacing it,” says Eli Promisel.
As AI advances, we may see luxury-tier language models emerge, tailored to high-end consumers. This hinges on whether AI can eventually master taste. Courtney also observes that currently, tech companies subsidize AI costs. If those costs were passed to users, AI could become a status symbol, where the wealthiest clients access the most sophisticated agents.
Read More:
Can AI Ever Crack Taste?
By Madeleine Schulz
Scenario 3AI fades into the background. Most people don’t dwell on the technology or algorithms behind every Google search. Currently, we’re in a phase where AI is being highlighted as part of the user introduction—both to help people understand how it differs from traditional search and for companies to showcase their investments. But some experts believe this won’t last.
“The ultimate goal is for AI to become invisible to the customer, enhancing the luxury experience without ever replacing the human touch,” says Promisel.
This is the approach most luxury fashion brands are taking with AI. LVMH’s AI Factory, launched in 2020, laid the groundwork for integrating AI behind the scenes across its brands. Using these tools to improve backend efficiency isn’t a bold statement about AI’s role in luxury’s future, but every expert I spoke with strongly believes that human design and creativity will remain essential. “AI doesn’t mean creativity is disappearing,” says Andjelic. “It just means you can respond faster.”
Over time, generational attitudes toward AI will shift, making it less of a debate. AI won’t be seen as good or bad—it will simply be part of life. “We can’t assume future generations will value human-made content in the same way,” notes Courtney. “Younger generations will grow up with AI as the norm. For Gen Alpha and beyond, it will be a whole new world.”
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs Is AI Actually Kind of Basic
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What does it mean when people say AI is basic
It usually means that much of what we call AI today isnt truly intelligent or conscious Its often just advanced pattern recognitionprocessing huge amounts of data to find and repeat patterns not truly thinking or understanding
2 If AI is so basic why is it such a big deal
Even if the core concept is simple the scale and speed at which it can do this is revolutionary It can automate complex tasks generate humanlike text and recognize objects in images faster and more consistently than a human ever could which makes it incredibly powerful and useful
3 Are tools like ChatGPT and image generators considered basic AI
Yes in the foundational sense They are based on models trained on massive datasets to predict the next most likely word or pixel They dont understand meaning like a human does they are statistically mimicking the patterns of their training data
4 Whats the difference between narrow AI and the idea of basic AI
Narrow AI is designed for specific tasks Basic often refers to the underlying mechanism of these narrow AIstheir reliance on pattern matching without genuine understanding All current practical AI is narrow and much of it operates on these basic statistical principles
Advanced Practical Questions
5 Isnt calling it basic misleading The technology seems very complex
Youre right The implementation is highly complex involving advanced math massive computing power and intricate engineering Basic refers to the core operating principle not the difficulty of building it Its like a car engine the principle is simple to state but building a modern efficient engine is incredibly complex
6 What are the main limitations of this basic patternmatching AI
Key limitations include
Lack of Common Sense True Understanding It cant reason about the world outside its training data
Brittleness It often fails unpredictably with inputs slightly different from its training