GoKawiilSporty & Rich Founder Emily Oberg Drops AI Photo Shoots After Disappointing Results
Emily Oberg, founder of fashion brand Sporty & Rich, revealed she tested AI-generated imagery to cut costs on e-commerce photo shoots, which typically run upwards of $200,000 twice a year. She said the results looked flat, lifeless and overly perfect, with models appearing 'dead in the eyes,' prompting her to return to using a full human team for future shoots.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The experiment offers a real-world data point in the ongoing debate over whether AI can replace creative labor in fashion and marketing, showing that even significant cost savings may not offset quality losses in brand-defining imagery. It suggests that for industries built on aesthetic judgment, human 'taste' remains a competitive differentiator that current AI tools struggle to replicate.
- Sporty & Rich tested AI to replace costly human-led photo shoots, which cost over $200,000 per collection.
- Oberg found AI images lifeless, overly flat, and lacking authentic emotion or movement.
- She reverted to human teams, arguing AI cannot replicate genuine creative taste.
Neewer 700W Softbox Lighting Kit — If Oberg's takeaway is that real photo shoots still beat AI-generated e-commerce images, good lighting is where that human touch starts. This Neewer softbox kit gives small brands and creators a proper studio setup for shooting clothing and products with soft, even light instead of leaning on a generator. It's a practical way to get taste-driven imagery you actually control.
See Neewer 700W Softbox Lighting Kit on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: futurism.com — Maggie Harrison Dupré, 2026-09-08
Published there as: “Fashion Founder Emily Oberg Says She Tried Using AI for Photo Shoots, and It Was a Failure Because It Will “Never Possess Good Taste” Like Humans Do”
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