Thread

Stanford R&DE Uses AI to Race Swap Students for Advertising

88 points · 63 comments · docdeek

andsoitis · 1790087616 · focus · HN ↗
Marketing is about attracting customers.
So the incentives are there to present the image you want to project to attract customers.
1. 10xDev · 1790088002 · focus · HN ↗
  Hey buddy, not everything is about cold calculation. Some of us value culture and integrity. These are going to matter even more in the age of AI not less.
  1. andsoitis · 1790088163 · focus · HN ↗
    Advertising is more about selling aspirations rather than reflect objective reality.
    To wit: even the original photo was probably staged…
    10xDev · 1790088220 · focus · HN ↗
    Anything you do as a university / person reflects your values. This shows a lack of integrity.
    andsoitis · 1790088296 · focus · HN ↗
    > This shows a lack of integrity.
    Why?
    cucumber3732842 · 1790097246 · focus · HN ↗
    It's considered unethical for food marketers to use marketing photos that aren't of the actual product. Sure, it's a perfect example staged under perfect lighting with perfect presentation but when you see a Dorito on the bag it's a real Dorito.
    Why are photos of people any different? There needs to be some grounding of the presentation to what you're actually selling.
    (It's also illegal for food, but that's beside the point, you shouldn't get your moral compass from the law)
    bot403 · 1790134243 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm not sure why you say this. It's well known food is often very staged, and inedible substitutes often used in advertisements.
    Do you want an advertising picture of a puddle of melted ice cream under hot studio lights?
    And why would it be illegal for food?
    cucumber3732842 · 1790158158 · focus · HN ↗
    You cannot use stand ins for the product being sold. You can photograph your cereal in glue because milk makes cereal soggy or you can drizzle your chocolate syrup over mashed potatoes because ice cream will melt but neither of those examples would be legal if you were selling the milk or the ice cream. There's some gray area at the margin but this is how the law has been interpreted and what has been enforced for decades.
    anon7000 · 1790097536 · focus · HN ↗
    Isn’t it obvious? Integrity is about honesty. They showed a picture claiming the school is one way, but the picture was a fabrication. It’d be the same if they were staging food in the cafeteria for marketing, but that food isn’t available to students.
    You can make what you have look as good as it can, and I’m sure everyone does that.
    But AI fabrications are crossing the line to outright lies, which is by definition violating integrity.
  2. repeekad · 1790089183 · focus · HN ↗
    Are you justifying replacing a real hispanic student with a fake black one for "culture and integrity"?..
    If you were being sarcastic, it was not clear.
    ecshafer · 1790089526 · focus · HN ↗
    10xDev is arguing the opposite, NOT replacing students for some cold calculated marketing, and being more authentic for culture and integrity.
2. [deleted] · 1790088235 · focus · HN ↗
  [deleted]
3. ReptileMan · 1790088458 · focus · HN ↗
  And which exactly customers will be enticed by the modified image?
4. rayiner · 1790088602 · focus · HN ↗
  Yes, which is why people study marketing to understand revealed preferences in society. Here, they slimmed down the woman on the left. It's well known that skinnier is more marketable. By the same token, we must assume that they think replacing the hispanic man with a black woman is also an upgrade. By contrast, in China, they sometimes do the opposite: <a href="https://variety.com/2015/film/news/star-wars-china-poster-controversy-john-boyega-1201653494/" rel="nofollow">https://variety.com/2015/film/news/star-wars-china-poster-co....
5. a34729t · 1790093233 · focus · HN ↗
  But for the dining hall presummably you dont just want skinny people, because that probably just means lame salads and stuff. Its like if the chef is too skinny, i suspect that.
  If i were to do the dining hall ads I'd make everybody super fat. Look how delicious our food is!

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