Women’s lifestyle brand SheerLuxe has been slammed by fans for their ‘disgraceful’ new AI editor and overlooking ‘real women of colour’ for the role.
The London-based brand, which boasts 467,000 Instagram followers, unveiled their new fashion and lifestyle editor Reem, who is powered by AI, yesterday afternoon.
In an introductory Instagram post, the SheerLuxe team shared a digitally altered photo of Reem having a ‘catch up meeting’ with their editor Charlotte Collins.
The post also featured a glimpse inside the bot’s work bag, her current favourite makeup products and a selfie of Reem ‘wearing’ a pink Mint Velvet co-ord.
However, the post was met with outrage from fans – who argued the brand should have hired a real woman of colour for the role instead of creating an AI bot.
Pictured: SheerLuxe’s editor Charlotte Collins (right) has a ‘catch up meeting’ with their new lifestyle and fashion editor Reem, who is powered by AI
Although SheerLuxe has not revealed the AI editor’s ethnicity, fans have speculated that she is meant to be Arab – as Reem is a common name in the Middle East.
One follower commented: ‘This is incredibly weird and also insulting. It’s essentially taking away a job from an Arab woman when we are already under-represented and/or misrepresented in media.’
Another added: ‘Would love to understand the reasoning behind choosing an Arab woman for an AI “enhanced” team member. Did anyone actually think about the message this sends out?”
Meanwhile, a third sarcastically wrote: ‘“ChatGPT please make the most perfect Arab looking woman, with the perfect brown skin and call her Reem”. But don’t worry we will control the brown girls narrative instead of hiring one!’
A fourth asked: ‘Is Reem supposed to be a virtually created woman of colour??’
‘This could have been a funny joke on April 1st,’ a fifth said. ‘But right now I don’t see anyone laughing. Whatever is going on here is actually really disturbing.’
What’s more, others claimed that Reem was perpetuating a ‘ridiculous beauty standard’ and argued SheerLuxe had missed an opportunity to showcase a ‘relatable’ woman.
A critic added: ‘If you have to do this please don’t set such a ridiculous beauty standard. Create a normal, average woman who empowers and represents us as we really are, and doesn’t leave all our daughters feeling that they are totally inadequate.
The post also featured a glimpse inside the bot’s work bag, her current favourite makeup products and a selfie of Reem ‘wearing’ a pink Mint Velvet co-ord
Women’s lifestyle brand SheerLuxe has been slammed by fans for their ‘disgraceful’ new AI editor Reem (pictured)
The post was met with outrage from fans – who argued the brand should have hired a real woman of colour for the role instead of creating an AI bot.
‘This is the opposite of empowering women. Shame on SheerLuxe.’
‘Come on. This AI “member of staff” was created exactly how you wanted her to look and you STILL couldn’t make her larger than a size 8? Very very telling,’ another added.
Jumping to their defence, one supporter wrote on SheerLuxe’s latest Instagram post: ‘I don’t understand why people are so pressed about a bot?’
‘Grow up and move with the digital time. Sheerluxe are a digital platform – innovation is at the core of who they are and what they represent. This is tech genius and I’m here for it!!!’
Last night, SheerLuxe’s founder Georgie Coleridge Cole – who has also set up SheerLuxe Middle East – responded to the backlash on the brand’s Instagram Stories.
Speaking from their London office, the CEO said Reem was created by a Saudi designer who approached SheerLuxe with the idea.
She said: ‘Today we launched our AI-assisted, virtually created new SheerLuxe contributer called Reem and let’s just say, our followers have been quite vocal on what they think about her.
‘I have to add that she was created by a Saudi woman who approached us and said she had created a bot and [asked if she] could contribute to SheerLuxe.’
Pictured: SheerLuxe founder Georgie Coleridge Cole attending the second day of Royal Ascot in June
SheerLuxe’s founder Georgie Coleridge Cole – who has also set up SheerLuxe Middle East – responded to the backlash on the brand’s Instagram Stories
Reem has divided SheerLuxe’s fans – with one writing: ‘This is the opposite of empowering women. Shame on SheerLuxe’
Georgie then went on to say how she had been wanting to experiment with AI and stressed that no one on the SheerLuxe team had been made redundant.
The founder continued: ‘She is powered by probably about eight of the SheerLuxe team so there’s a lot of work that goes into her.
‘But who knows what the future of AI and bots looks like? But we didn’t get to where we are with following the crowd.’
Georgie signed off by saying Reem was an ‘experiment’ but stressed how excited she was for their new ‘editorial spin’.
She concluded: ‘She’s got a sort of persona and a character that we can follow and be true to and hopefully some people might like what they see and like her recommendations.’
As well as setting Reem up with her own Instagram page, SheerLuxe also published an article yesterday introducing their new AI editor.
Describing her personal style, the AI bot said: ‘Elevated, polished, fashion-forward and a little bit extra. I like classic items combined with something a bit unexpected – like a big shoulder or a killer accessory.’
Sharing her style rules, Reem continued: ‘First, no outfit is complete without jewellery; invest in accessories; if in doubt, add a shoulder; incorporate vintage where possible and finally, don’t shy away from colour – admittedly this one isn’t the easiest, but I’m trying to take a leaf out of [SheerLuxe colleague Nana Acheampong’s] book.’
Femail has contacted SheerLuxe for comment.
