Beauty, But Make It Algorithmic: The Trap of AI Perfection

Personalization, Empowerment, and the Risk of Unrealistic Standards

Disclaimer: I built StyleSense.io, a platform built to personalize beauty recommendations. I’ve thought a lot about how to productize AI for beauty use cases, and have tried to do so in a thoughtful way that avoids the risks I’ve outlined below. But yes, I explicitly have a vested interest in this space. (Read more about my founding story here).

So you want AI to tell you what lipstick to buy — fine. You want it to curate your perfect foundation shade that matches your undertone and skin type. Also fine! But what you don’t want — what you swear you’re totally aware of, totally above — is the part where AI starts deciding what you should look like.

The Upside: AI as Your Personal Stylist ?

AI gives you options, cuts through the noise. No more sifting through a hundred influencer tutorials trying to figure out which “natural” makeup routine is actually achievable for you. Instead, AI analyzes you — your face shape, your skin tone, your “undertones” — and gives you tailored recommendations. This is the dream, right? A beauty industry that serves you rather than dictates to you?

The Downside: AI as The Unseen Hand

Ah, but here’s the rub: AI doesn’t just reflect reality — it creates it.

Beauty standards aren’t born in a vacuum. They are shaped, reinforced, and fed back into us until we don’t even realize we’re conforming. AI is built on data, and data is built on bias. The more we rely on AI to define beauty for us, the more we risk narrowing the spectrum of what “beauty” even means. Sure, you can tell yourself that you’re just using AI to enhance your individuality — but individuality doesn’t mean much when it’s being algorithmically sorted, categorized, and optimized for engagement.

Case in point: TikTok’s Bold Glamour filter. Unlike a magazine cover — something static, separate from you — this filter changes you in real time. Your face moves, it smiles, it frowns, and it is still perfect. And what’s worse? You don’t even notice the alteration after a while. Your brain adapts. You start to believe that’s how you should look. Not just could — should.

The effect? A generation of people who aren’t just chasing an impossible ideal but living inside of it, moment to moment, every time they open their front camera. The plastic surgery industry isn’t worried about AI filters — they’re thrilled. Because when your digitally-enhanced self becomes your baseline, surgery doesn’t feel like vanity. It feels like correction.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

There’s an argument to be made that AI could democratize beauty, make it more accessible, more personal, more real. That’s nice. That’s hopeful. But let’s be honest — AI isn’t going to fix a beauty industry that profits from insecurity. It’s just going to make it more efficient.

If we actually care about using AI for good, the bare minimum we should demand is:

• AI models that reflect actual human diversity, not just whatever dataset happens to be most convenient.
• Transparency in digital beauty — people should know when their reflection isn’t real.
• A cultural shift away from optimization/“looksmaxxing” and toward acceptance — but let’s not hold our breath on that one.