World’s First ‘Miss AI’ Beauty Pageant Offers $20k Prize for Top AI Models

On Sunday, applications opened for the brand-new “Miss AI” competition. What sets this competition apart from other iterations of the popular beauty pageantry format is that the models themselves will not be human.

Instead, Miss AI is a beauty pageant for artificial intelligence (AI) models, who will be judged on their aesthetic qualities and influence on social media.

A ground total of $20,000 in prize money is up for grabs, with the creator behind the winning AI model set to receive $5,000 prize money and $3,000-worth promotional assistance on Fanvue, a subscription-based platform hosting virtual models. Further PR advice and assistance worth $5,000 will also be given to the winner.

Is an #AI pageant a good idea?@sallyann16 and @DanaeMercer give their arguments…#KayBurley SS pic.twitter.com/mLHpnznpFo

— Kay Burley (@KayBurley) April 17, 2024

A beauty pageant for AI models

According to the official website, the virtual contestants will be assessed in three categories: “beauty”, “tech”, and “social clout”.

“AI creators’ social clout will be assessed based on their engagement numbers with fans, rate of growth of audience, and utilization of other platforms such as Instagram,” commented the World ‍AI Creator Awards (WAICAs), behind the Miss AI pageant and forthcoming competitions.

“We share the vision for the WAICAs to become the Oscars of the AI creator economy,” said Will Monanage, the co-founder of Fanvue.

Of the four judges, two are AI models themselves with large followings on social media platforms like Instagram. The two human judges are Andrew Bloch and Sally Ann-Fawcett. Bloch’s background is in business and technology, whereas Ann-Fawcett is a beauty pageant judge, historian, and former contestant.

I'm honoured to be on the judging panel for Miss AI and helping to crown the world's first digital Miss World 👑 .

The value of the AI economy is expected to exceed the £1billion mark this year, and Miss AI is the first contest of the World AI Creator Awards – the Oscars of the…

— Andrew Bloch (@AndrewBloch) April 13, 2024

AI is being used in new – and arguably, unsettling – ways

Many social media influencers make a living sharing their content online with thousands of followers. Major companies are keen to collaborate with these influencers to advertise their products to a widening audience that increasingly eschews traditional media platforms like radio and television.

Some of the top social media influencers are young women who attract large numbers of followers thanks to their looks. However, with the arrival of AI-generated imagery, an increasing number of virtual models have been gaining similarly large numbers of followers on social media.

Social media is not the only space where AI avatars are making inroads. Some TV channels and news stations are also experimenting with AI-enabled hosts. For example, Channel 1, a Los Angeles-based startup, is experimenting with what they call, “the world’s first AI-powered news network.”

Such uses of AI, especially for public-facing roles like news anchors and presenters, or social media influencers, whose appeal is based on a sense of human intimacy, have their share of proponents and detractors.

Those in favor of the new phenomenon view these new uses for AI as promising innovations, whereas critics tend to perceive them as steps toward a digital dystopia. Time will tell who is right.