This tension is echoed in deeper concerns around AI and social media’s role in promoting hyper-perfect beauty standards. Across age groups, respondents voiced anxieties about the unattainable ideals likely to filter through digital platforms. “I worry that the expectations set by AI/social media will impact individuals’ expectations of themselves to a degree not reconcilable with reality,” said one over-45 respondent. A younger consumer echoed this sentiment: “I think AI models will make women want more surgery and fillers.”

As generations age and the likes of Gen Alpha and Beta grow as a consumer segment immersed in digital aesthetics, brands face a crucial responsibility with AI. Moving forward, brands will need to double down on transparency and implement ethical visual standards focused on realistic representation across marketing and product design. While AI will shape future beauty standards, it’s the algorithm that must support individuality and self-confidence.

Methodology and demographics

Vogue Business conducted a 10-minute quantitative online survey, which was shared with Vogue, Glamour and Allure readers in the US and the UK and Vogue Business readers globally. This research was conducted by an internal Condé Nast custom research team between 14 March and 27 March 2025. Statistical comparisons between groups were used at a 95 per cent confidence interval.

To take this survey, respondents were required to be aged 16 or over. In total, 559 respondents were surveyed. Among respondents, 97 per cent were female and 3 per cent were male; while 18 per cent of respondents were under 35 and 41 per cent were over 35, the remainder preferred not to say. Eighty-four per cent of respondents were based in the US, with 11 per cent being in the UK and 5 per cent from the rest of the world. The majority of respondents in the UK (73 per cent) classified as white, with 13 per cent as Black/African/Caribbean/Black British, 7 per cent Asian/Asian British/Any other Asian background, 5 per cent as Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups and 4 per cent preferring not to say. In the US, 79 per cent of respondents classified as white, 9 per cent Hispanic or Latinx, 7 per cent Black or African American, 7 per cent Asian or Pacific Islander, 3 per cent American Indian or Alaskan Native and 4 per cent preferring not to say. Just under half of the respondents earned between $/£50,000-$/£199,000, while 29 per cent earned below $/£49,999 and 7 per cent between $/£200,000-$/£500,000 or more. Nineteen per cent preferred not to share annual income.

*Note on our images:

We created all lead images in this series using OpenAI GPT-4o’s image generation tool. To do that, we leveraged the ongoing partnership between Condé Nast and OpenAI and generated images that best reflect the expert insights and predictions about appearance found in this collection of articles.

We are aware of the debate surrounding the ethics of artificial intelligence in image-making, and we share concerns regarding creative ownership as well as that of our own image. In this series, we are talking about a world that doesn’t yet exist, and as AI is in so many ways the tool of the future, we felt it was appropriate to experiment with it in this way.

We guided the visuals entirely through written prompts. No external images or copyrighted materials were uploaded or referenced — every image was created from scratch based on our team’s original concepts.

Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.