No. 1 (2023)
Essays

Ethical Implications in AI-Powered Trend Research Platforms

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  • Victoria Rodriguez Schon,
  • Chiara Colombi
Victoria Rodriguez Schon
Politecnico di Milano
Chiara Colombi
Politecnico di Milano
first number yellow cover of fashion highlight journal with black logo
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-2261

Published 2023-06-30

Keywords

  • AI,
  • Pluralisation,
  • Fashion,
  • Ethics of Technology

How to Cite

Rodriguez Schon, V., & Colombi, C. (2023). Ethical Implications in AI-Powered Trend Research Platforms. Fashion Highlight, (1), 48–57. https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-2261
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The manuscript discusses the limitations of applying AI in trend research platforms for the fashion system. This analysis intends to take a position within the emergent research topic of AI. Considering its ethical implications, we explore the opportunities of implementing AI to support trend research from a design-oriented perspective, realising the relationship between fashion and trends, which is central in shaping the future. Examples of AI-powered trend platforms evidence how valuable their insights are for strategic innovation. The analysis focuses on platforms that provide tailored services using AI and expert interpretation. Virtue ethics of technology serves as a useful framework to examine this topic, proposing a new set of virtues that respond to technology’s shaping of behaviour and its disadvantages. The risks of applying AI are many-fold; the consequences perpetuate power imbalances and social inequality. Proposing guidelines for enabling a responsible practice explores how to forge ethics into AI, creating a pluralised practice.

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