Putting the AI in fashion

Every day, the fashion industry finds more and more uses for AI — and ASU-FIDM professor Naomi Ellis wants her students to be prepared.

From trend forecasting, to identifying target markets, to even quick turnarounds on designs, Ellis said, “there is no area in our industry without it.”

FSH 394 Topic: AI in Fashion is a course dedicated to preparing students for the AI surge in the fashion industry through course projects. One such project assignment is the student creation of a custom Chat GPT bot as a versatile industry tool.

Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) is a database technique that combines ChatGPT and external knowledge materials In this course, students can configure their own RAGs to create their custom tool.

One student is using ChatGPT to create a textile guidebook using a database of illustrations. The custom GPT would help the user identify textiles or render how they would look digitally.

Another student is building a rolodex of uses for unconventional fashion materials Questions such as, “How can I not waste this material from my couch?,” can be prompted and the custom bot would advise based on the type of material.

A third custom bot is expected to work as a personal wardrobe using a personal style RAG database.

“This makes them more prepared than any other fashion student,” Ellis said. “And, to my knowledge, there are no other schools or no other students doing this.”

Written by Joycelyn Munoz.