AI creates unrealistic body ideals, objectification and a lack of diversity – especially among athletes

What does it look like to have an “athletic body”? What does artificial intelligence think it would look like if such a thing exists?

A recent study at the University of Toronto analyzed appearance-related characteristics of AI-generated images of male and female athletes and non-athletes. We have discovered that we are being given exaggerated – and probably impossible – body standards.

Even before AI, athletes were pressured to look a certain way: thin, muscular, and attractive. Coaches, opponents, spectators and the media shape how athletes think about their bodies.

But these stresses and body ideals have little to do with performance; They are linked to the objectification of the body. And this phenomenon is unfortunately linked to negative body image, poor mental health and reduced athletic performance.

With the increasing use of AI in social media, it is critical to understand how AI represents the bodies of athletes and non-athletes. What it shows or doesn’t show as…