Go to Google and ask if AI will eliminate jobs… The answer will be: AI can eliminate jobs, but it can also create new ones. True… but at the same speed? This first third of the year has seen tremendous advances in marketing, advertising, and design… and I see a very high risk in these areas. The best example: H&M will clone models with AI. Let’s analyze it and reflect a bit to know what we can do as professionals.
H&M will clone models with AI
Fashion has always been an industry of dreams, we know, and yet we still love it: impossible bodies, perfect lighting, carefully edited, sublime worlds. But now, that mirage has taken things up a notch. H&M, the Swedish fast-fashion giant, has just announced the creation of “digital twins” of 30 real-life models. These clones will be developed with artificial intelligence and will be used in its marketing and social media campaigns.
It’s a move that, at first glance, seems harmless—even ingenious, because at first glance, everyone wins. The models gave their consent, so they will retain the rights to their replicas and will be compensated as if they were in a traditional shoot. The brand, for its part, will be able to use these virtual versions as many times as it wants, placing them in whatever backgrounds it chooses… and of course, without paying for tickets, hotels, or production costs. Everyone apparently wins… or not?
Not necessarily.
A brilliant move: low cost, high impact
Let’s put it into perspective. From an operational and financial perspective, the decision is brilliant. Instead of organizing dozens of photo shoots in different countries, with full production teams, a few minutes in front of a camera are enough to obtain the “molds” to clone. AI will do the rest: posing, changing the look, adjusting the background, altering the lighting. Literally, they will be models without geographical boundaries, without pressure, and without time constraints.
They’ll think, “It’s good for me because I can work while somewhere else…” But is it really that magical? How long will it be before H&M replaces human models and creates them using AI?
Some models involved—like Mathilda Gvarliani—are delighted. “She’s me, without the jet lag,” she said upon seeing her clone. For them, it’s a way to work less, earn the same, and have greater control over their time. For the brand, it’s a tool for efficiency and scalability that reduces costs and maintains the visual narrative. As The Godfather would say: it’s not personal, it’s business.
Lesson one: AI doesn’t require huge investments to cause disruption.
This is the first big lesson for marketers: AI can generate real, profitable value with very simple actions. You don’t need to develop revolutionary software or create a new product from scratch. Sometimes, all you need to do is apply off-the-shelf technology to an existing process… and turn it into a competitive advantage.
These types of “small” but smart innovations are the future for many brands looking to optimize without sacrificing quality.
But, of course… that’s just one side of the coin.
Second lesson: there is no such thing as a free lunch
The flip side is less bright. Influencers like Morgan Riddle called the move “shameful.” The Equity union is demanding legal guarantees so that models do not lose control of their own images. And beyond these, there is a silent army on the line: photographers, makeup artists, stylists, technicians, production assistants… a vast value chain that simply will no longer be necessary.
So yes… AI will eliminate jobs
Because let’s be clear: anyone who says AI won’t create unemployment either doesn’t understand anything or doesn’t want you to understand. ( I’m leaning toward the second option .)
This is a tremendous example of how AI doesn’t just affect routine or manual tasks. It also impacts creative industries, sectors considered “human by nature.” AI no longer just performs calculations, answers emails, or writes articles. It now creates faces, interprets emotions, models bodies, and tells visual stories. And it does it well.
And I won’t go any further… the madness unleashed by ChatGPT, creating Studio Ghibli-style illustrations in seconds, is another clear example. And this is just the beginning…
Yes, technology opens up opportunities. But it also replaces functions. That’s THE inconvenient TRUTH.
And this is where the real underlying message comes in.
You resist and complain… or you learn. You adapt or you become extinct… because we’ve already seen it: AI will eliminate jobs. Is it coming for yours?
Get trained. If you don’t master AI… AI will replace you.
For all those who complain… the answer isn’t to stop progress. IT CAN’T BE. AI isn’t going away, nor is its development going to slow down. What you can do is decide which side you’ll be on: the one who uses it to grow, or the one who will be replaced by it?
You’re not competing against a machine. You’re competing against someone who knows how to use it better than you.
This case shouldn’t provoke fear, but rather a warning. Because just as AI can replace models on a digital catwalk, it can replace writers, designers, editors, consultants… anyone who doesn’t understand how to integrate it into their work is, in blunt terms, becoming obsolete.
But there is also hope.
In the midst of this brutal transformation, those who train, adapt, and specialize in using AI as a tool will not only survive, they will excel. They will be the new indispensable people, those who design prompts, those who interpret outputs, those who adjust results.
Because even if AI creates a perfect image, it still needs human eyes to define the story: what is being told, how it is being told, and why it is being told.
The future is not neutral
AI will indeed eliminate jobs, but believe it or not, AI is neither good nor bad. It’s a tool. And like any tool, it depends on how we use it.
The H&M case can be seen as a strategic victory or as a warning sign. Both perspectives are valid. Because both are real.
The important thing is to stop romanticizing technology as if it were neutral or “clean.” It isn’t. It has consequences, and marketing—as a discipline—must be able to see them, analyze them, and act ethically.
It’s good for a brand to gain efficiency. But the fact that it means removing human faces from the equation should give us pause.
As with any transformation, there will be winners and losers. The question you need to ask yourself is simple:
Which side are you going to be on?
