Instagram Models Are Using AI To Generate Cute Animal Photos – The Daily Dot

Instagram models are getting in on the AI trend by having it stick cute animals into their photos, but it’s not fooling or appealing to all. Critics of large language models (LLMs) that savvy marketers successfully got us to call “AI” are trashing these influencers for using the tech to generate fake puppies instead of, perhaps, promoting animal shelters.
A viral post on X called out this new influencer trend last week, pointing out that “hot girls have started to use AI” to generate photos of themselves hanging with baby dogs, bunnies, and animals in unusual places. On Nov. 12, user @jameygannon called this “photo-surrealism with cute animals” in a tweet that would gain over 26 million views.
The photos included in the post feature U.K. model Juliet Kaz, Sardinian influencer Gaia Cormio, and Spanish photographer Maria Heredia. Kaz has multiple images of herself surrounded by puppies, while Heredia opted for the bunnies. Cormio went wild and stuck herself indoors with a white horse.
While the original post wasn’t negative in nature, many on X responded with anti-AI sentiments and criticism. The quote tweets are full of edited images made by amateurs on Picsart during the pre-AI days. Others gave a shout-out to Photoshop and other software that requires much more effort from the user.
Comments addressing the AI use pushed back on the idea that these women are hot because they consider this tech to be so ugly that it contaminates everything it produces. The only thing it may be making hotter is the planet itself, but in the way that’s killing people.
