Exclusive: World's first beauty pageant for AI women is announced (2024)

Beauty, poise, and classical pageantry might not be what first springs to mind when you think of AI.

But contestants in the world's first AI beauty pageant will need all of these in spades if they are to claim their share of a $20,000 (£16,000) prize pool.

The Fanvue Miss AI pageant will see AI-generated ladies go head-to-head in front of a panel of judges, including two AI influencers.

These synthetic competitors will be judged on beauty, social media clout and their creator's use of AI tools.

Will Monanage, Fanvue Co-Founder, says he hopes that these events will 'become the Oscars of the AI creator economy.'

To enter, competitors only need to submit an AI-generated image of a woman and provide answers to a list of questions.

These questions range from pageant staples such as 'what would be your one dream to make the world a better place?' to technical details of the AI used.

Fanvue, which is organising the awards, says it expects to receive thousands of entrants to the competition.

These contestants will be whittled down to a top 10 before the final three are announced at an online awards ceremony in May.

They will be ranked by an expert panel of four judges with expertise in the world of pageantry, marketing, and modelling.

However, perhaps the most unusual detail of the competition is that even some of the judges will be AI-generated.

The panel includes two 'AI creators', Aitana Lopez and Emily Pelligrini, who have each racked up hundreds of thousands of social media followers.

Of course, it will really be their creators who will be doing the judging, bringing expertise in how to turn AI images into advertising revenue.

They will be joined on the panel by two human judges: Sally Ann Fawcett, Britain's only pageant historian, and Andrew Bloch, Lord Sugar's PR advisor.

In many respects, the proceedings will be much like any other beauty pageant.

Contestants submit images which are judged according to their 'beauty and poise' and aspects of 'classical pageantry'.

Ms Fawcet says: 'As one of the world's only traditional pageantry historians it's really exciting to be involved in an awards which feels so futuristic.

'Interestingly, there are so many parallels between real life pageantry contestants and AI creators, and how they engage with their audiences.

However, there are also a lot of ways this will be nothing like your average beauty pageant.

Beyond the fact that none of the contestants are human, the other big difference is that the use of technology will be a key judging category.

Contestants will be appraised according to their 'skill and implementation of AI toolsto create their digital masterpieces'.

Fanvue notes in particular that there are points to be scored for the details around eyes and hands - areas that some AI image generators struggle with.

The last 12 months have seen an explosion in the availability and power of AI image generators.

Tools like Stability AI allow users to create complex images from simple text prompts while a range of AI tools allow these images to be refined further.

The entrants will also be judged according to their 'social media clout' and will score points according to their fan numbers and how they engage with followers.

In the application questionnaire, those signing up for the contest are also asked about their total revenue across platforms.

While this might seem unusual, the main goal of making AI models is to make money through social media.

Aitana Lopez,the creation of Spanish media companyThe Clueless, can often be seen on their Instagram posing in clothes from Victoria's Secret, Guess, and Brandy Melville.

Some fashion brands pay big money for these placements as Lopez's creators charge over$1,000 (£800) per post and avoid the hassle of dealing with real models.

The creators behind Aitana Lopezsay: 'The number of AI creators around the world has seen incredible growth in the past twelve months, and Aitana has built up an adoring fan base.'

The AI women's accounts are so convincing thatEmily Pellegrini's creators say they have even received amorous messages from footballers and billionaires.

Some of these AI models are now moving into more direct forms of engagement with their fans in order to boost revenue even further.

Through platforms like Fanvue, AI creators can hide content, often with a more adult theme, behind a paywall and charge for access.

Using other AI tools, these creators can also send automatically generated text and even voice messages to paying fans.

According to Fanvue, Aitana Lopez nets her creators $10,000 ($8,000) a month on their services.

Mr Montague says: 'The creator economy is an extremely exciting place to be in right now, and with the help of our platform, there's been exponential growth in AI creators entering the space, growing their fanbases, and monetising content.'

And there is also big money to be made for the winner of this beauty pageant with a top prize of $5,000 (£4,000) in cash and an 'imagine creator mentorship programme' worth $3,000 (£2,400).

Second place will receive free access to a course on their Imagine Programme plus a $2,000 (£1,600 )promotional package on the Fanvue platform.

The third-place contestant will win a free consultancy call with Fanvue plus a $500 (£400) promotional package on the Fanvue platform.