Current Research

Understanding exploitation and trafficking risks in the modeling industry

While recent years have brought legal victories for models, particularly with the passage of the Fashion Workers Act, models continue to face increased risk of exploitation, sexual abuse, and trafficking. 

The Model Alliance is partnering with New York University on research to better understand how labor and sex trafficking uniquely manifest in the modeling industry. Eligible participants must be 18 years or older and have prior experience in the modeling industry. You do not need to have experienced trafficking to participate. 

Artificial Intelligence, Worker Voice, and the Future of Fashion

Workers across creative industries are reckoning with the potential job-displacing implications of advanced artificial intelligence (AI). Models and other fashion workers, including makeup artists, hair stylists, and photographers, have raised their own concerns not only about job replacement, but also about the potentially detrimental impacts of having their images manipulated with AI without their consent or compensation. The industry’s lack of regulation raises important questions about whether and how worker perspectives will inform the future use of AI by management agencies, fashion brands, and even workers themselves.  

In our preliminary poll of over 100 fashion models and influencers, an overwhelming majority of respondents anticipated that AI would negatively impact their careers, and around one in five reported that they have already been asked to submit to body scans. In June 2025, New York’s Fashion Workers Act went into effect, establishing essential labor protections for models including requirements that agencies and brands obtain clear, written consent for the creation or use of a model’s digital replica. 

The Model Alliance partnered with Data & Society and the Worker Institute at Cornell ILR on an IRB-certified, mixed methods action research project that examines worker views on AI, potential disparate impacts on women workers and workers of color, the impacts and limitations of the Fashion Workers Act, and how the future use of AI in the industry should best be negotiated. In September 2025, we published a snapshot of our key findings, which you can download below.