 How wrong was this fashion designer for changing this Asian model's face into a white face using AI, David? And what does this mean for the future of fashion? Yeah, we got to talk about this. This went viral this week. We are talking about the case of model Shareen Wu, who's Taiwanese-American, doing a free modeling gig for project runway designer Michael Costello. Long story short, on his Instagram, he ended up posting this photo, which was clearly had some crazy, heavy AI on it. It almost looks like an alien. And then she made a post about it. He apparently tried to hire some bots on Instagram to get her Instagram shut down. And then he dropped another video, responding it to it, sort of like dismissing the whole incident. Anyway, let's just play the clips. I recently walked through Michael Costello. But that's not me who he posted on his story. Michael's a big designer with 1.7 million followers. Editing my face and removing my race is completely disrespectful. He claims he casted me because he likes me, but I wasn't even on his official list. The only reason why I walked for him last minute was because the model was missing and I could fit into her dress. There's nothing you can do about the artist who sends him photos. So essentially, he's blaming the photographer. I asked the photographer, he did not edit the photos that the designer posted. That makes sense, because this is the photo he posted on his story. Uncle, he tells me that the designer has been deleting his messages on Instagram, unsending them. So it looks like the photographer has a one-sided conversation with the designer. A model close to Michael offered to ask him what happened. The model tells him that Michael says it's fan art. Michael has told three different people three different stories. He then removes my image without an apology, then posts AI art and then shared profiles of AI models as if to imply that everyone's doing this so I shouldn't be angry or I am replaceable. I understand as a model, I am replaceable, but I don't get paid to do these shows. While I don't get paid, there's a test of understanding that I'm doing this for exposure and for photographs. By not using my face, he's taking advantage of models without the same influence as he does. This isn't the first time that Michael has done something like this. In this article by The Cut, Claire Lampin does a really good job explaining all the controversy he's gone into. You can get a taste of Michael's character by reading these article titles. Racist rumors, calling someone an N-word, body shaming, even sexual harassment. But in the end, I'm just another disgruntled model who doesn't have much of a reach. Perhaps I'm making a mountain out of a moho and this will ruin my modeling career, but I do believe this is something I should stand up for. Oh, this is kind of messy, man. And especially it's messy because Michael Costello is sort of denying any wrongdoing, right? Yeah, and listen, I think, man, initially, at first you think, oh, okay, modeling, that's always done a little bit of photoshopping here and there, trim the fat. We know that this is true, guys. Right, people photoshop photos, right? Yes, they do, but they do not change the ethnicity and give models completely new faces. And this is why I think it's going viral because people photoshop features that could be improved. But to basically take a Asian girl's face and go, I think we can improve this by just making her white. Right, it's not Cherine Rue's face, but like a little bit better. It's not her face anymore. Yeah, so guys, if you guys have heard of this incident, make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications. Andrew, you know what's one thing that doesn't need any racist photoshopping, though? It's small ass sauce. I don't photoshop this one at all, guys. This is the very own chili oil. Should be shipping in mid-November. We're very, very excited. Yeah, so it's very tasty. Smallassauce.com from Sichuan to Sicily. I mean, I think for sure it's wrong. And when I was looking on the internet comments, I would say about 97 to 98% of them were against Michael Costello and pro Cherine Rue. So here's my thing, David. And I don't know. I don't know all the details. I'm just going to get into the semantics here. Is it the fact that she did it for free? She did this for free, right? She did it for exposure. She did it for exposure. That from the ethics side of things, it is very rude to do this on his side. I don't know if it's illegal or against contract because if there is no contract, then she kind of did it for free. But yeah, there's no legal recourse. Right. But if there is a contract, let's say she got paid to do a photo shoot, right? And does like her getting paid mean that he can do whatever he wants with the photos? Or her getting paid means that they have to use her face for some form of it. And I think that that's why the internet comments went in so many different directions. I think a lot of white models were pro-Sharine Wu because they were like, I don't like this whole AI thing. Of course, a lot of the Asian community, they were like classic racism. They don't think are more, I guess more younger, youthful, neoteness Asian features are like right for this like sleek modeling. And then it kind of got to a lot of other talks because Michael Costello sort of fired back at her low key and he actually accused other more Anglo or like Scandinavian designers in the past of being racist towards him because he's Greek, Italian, Turkish, Romani, which is like gypsy. So he was saying that the whole industry of Western European designers had been racist towards him. And now he's passing it on to the Asians where he probably thought they weren't gonna make a big deal out of it, right? Right, and that doesn't justify anything. Even if he did feel some discrimination, that does not make it okay to change her face. Now, yeah, I mean, I guess what, I mean, let's get into it because I think that David, this is a question for the future of fashion. Like how much and to what lengths are people gonna Photoshop now with AI where it's very easy to change a face? Anybody can do it, right? Facetune app, FaceApp, whatever. We have Adobe Photoshop, generative AI. It can literally put a new face on you. It looks a little wonky. They made her look like she was in the fifth element. Right, right. So we have to understand what is the future of modeling and why even have Sherene Wu model for you if you don't think she's good looking enough? Well, I just liked her body. I liked her shape. I felt like we, with some augmentation, it was gonna get to me. Yeah, that was great. You might as well make a new person. You already brought the shoulders out to make them all pointy. Why don't you just AI the whole person at this point? Geez. Somebody said, I'm so proud of her for standing her ground. A lot of people would be scared to because you know, some people are more powerful. You in the industry and models, you know, obviously a lot of it is networking and it's tough because their value is based on their looks. A lot of people would be scared to come out and jeopardize their future prospects, right? Right, I think she did a good thing. Sherene Wu, you're right for calling him out. Again, I don't know if it's illegal what he did, but the good thing you called him out. Somebody said, this is so scary and weird. We need AI regulations now in the industry and someone was like, oh my gosh, make it full of his hands. I mean, I think that like in fashion, isn't there, David, isn't there a beauty and models looking different and having all these different nuances on their face? And some models look weird. Some models look conventional. So I'm saying like, that's the whole point of fashion modeling. If you're gonna slap a different face on every person, then why not just have the same face for everything? That would be weird though, right? Right, I'm not gonna lie, this guy's white. He came out and defended Michael Costello. He was like, the models, they are just hangers. You know, they are hard to bring life and give movement to the designer's concept. If he wants to alter you entirely, it's within the creative scope as part of the job, but the only mistake here was it was not discussed beforehand. Now, what I'm saying is if it's in the contract and people have always been able to doctor photos and Photoshop them the way they wanted afterwards, because that was within the agreement. If you're a model, sometimes you are hired to take photos, right, and then that person can do whatever they want with the photos as long as it's within the brand that they used it for, right? They might change the color of your jacket. They might maybe thicken your eyebrows, put a little more hair on you. But I think the big wrong is that he didn't tell her beforehand that they might do this. And a lot of people were saying what was even more petty was that he apparently allegedly had hired Instagram bots to report her Instagram, which actually got taken down, obviously, even though she got it back. So he had launched a little bit of a campaign against her and then shut off his comments. So it looks bad, right? Yeah, I'm, yeah, let's go. I got my thing at the end. And then he also posted a video with two Asian women that he works with as a way to say, hey, these are my friends, just letting you know. No, so is he trying to fight against the racist accusations? I think that's what he's trying to do. He's trying to say, hey, I'm not racist for doing it. It's not because of her race. Yes, one of you would have came out and said it's just because her face was too baby-ish. The baby-ish, the baby-face-less levels was seven out of 10. All right, how wrong would it have been if he made, kept her Asian, right? Kept her who she is, but then made her nose way bigger or something. That still would have been kind of weird, but I guess as long as people can tell it's her and she got credit because she did it for free, she did it for exposure, then I guess I don't know. Honestly, if he was being smart about this, because apparently he had some racist accusations from African-American or African models in the past against him as well, I think that he should have just doubled down, took the photo down and then tried to, I'm not doubled down, I'm sorry, felt, made an apology and then just posted her actual photo and then tagged her on his 1.7 million follower Instagram account. Then this whole fiasco could have been just cut nipped at the bud. He could have made up an excuse. You know, I'm sorry about the previous photo that I had posted. That was something that our team did and I forgot that she, that was not her. I found out and then I put the real photo up. He could have like even made that up. I'm just saying it would have helped him. Right, but what he did do was sort of double down and actually go on the offensive against you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was not a smart move by this, whatever, Michael Costello. Yeah, I mean, so this went viral. I mean, I think that the reason why people enjoy talking about this is because it shows different power dynamics within different industries, but it still keeps it within a scope that people are comfortable discussing. The modeling world. I think when it comes to the creative and artistic world, there has to be something natural about things. And I think if we use AI too much to change how things look, it should enhance. I understand AI to enhance things. If you wanna clear up your skin or something like that, I think that all makes sense. But like, dude, to change faces in a field where it's supposed to be about people's faces. Like think about this, we're talking about modeling. Modeling is already about how you look. Let's be honest, that's what it is. That's like the entire basis of the job. 90% of it, how you walk is the other 10%, right? But it's like 90% how you look. So then like, if we're in this field of modeling and it's about how you look, then just keep it that way. Versus changing, cause then you could just use my face. I mean, I guess my body shape wouldn't fit into the dress, but just grab anybody then, and then tell them, hey, we might change your face. By the way, we like your body, but we're gonna change your face. Yeah, and in that case, there may be some payment because it's tough to dedicate your time to walking it if you know your face is gonna be changed. I think at the key, you gotta let everybody know what you're planning to do. That's why this is rude and unethical on his side. And honestly, this might change the whole contracts of even the, in the modeling world. Yeah, this could be a big shifting event, maybe. But anyways, guys, you let me know in the comments down below what you think. Is this a big deal? And because I know that not everybody out there cares about fashion and high-end fashion and models and runways, and we're just tend to, sometimes people are like, oh, who cares about what happens. Yeah, if she's a rich, pretty person, she'll be fine. I get that, but it's still gonna affect other aspects of life, right? Yeah, and it is indicative of larger narratives if you want to take it there, for sure. And it is interesting. There's a lot of dynamics we couldn't even delve to deeper. Make sure you let us know what you think of this whole Shereen Woo versus Michael Costello situation in the comments section below. We encourage debate. Keep it civil. Until next time with Hop Hop Boys, we out. Peace.