The lifespan of lip filler is brief. It’s injected, molded, and quickly absorbed back into the system. Lately, hidden in between the needle and admiring your new pouty grin, a secret third step has crept in: AI.

College students working two jobs, rushing to submit coursework, and maintaining a social life don’t give up looking their best. Time is the price to pay, and young people find themselves leaning on AI tools as a pocket beauty consultant. 

Faith Fronduto, a senior at Boston University, understands how efficiency can outweigh effort when it comes to looking and feeling on par.

“We don’t really know what’s real and what’s not,” said Fronduto. “We then therefore feel tempted to contour as well—even if we think it’s wrong or it’s not authentic—just the sole need to fit in.”

The reality is this: in addition to homework and life advice, Gen-Z has found a new way to depend on AI: beauty. And according to experts, it’s forecasted to stay circulating in their daily routine for years to come. 

To explore this issue, NBC10 Boston collaborated with Boston University journalism students taking an in-depth reporting class taught by investigative reporter Ryan Kath. We took a deep dive into the presence of AI in social media and broadly, the beauty industry.

AI is a skyrocketing presence in the beauty industry 

AI isn’t just simply creeping into the industry, it’s becoming the heart and soul of it. According to a report by The Business Research Company, AI in the beauty industry is expected to skyrocket by 21% in 2029, a whopping $5 billion increase. 

A wave of tools such as “color-matching technologies, virtual try-on technologies, personalized beauty recommendations, chatbots for customer support, AR-based beauty content creation,” are rewriting how we perceive ourselves and others.

Experts studying the effects of AI say that pressure to look “snatched,” Gen-Z lingo for perfect, has only intensified as AI-altered images circulate faster than ever. 

Dr. Jeffrey Spiegel, founder and owner of The Spiegel Center, a plastic surgery practice specializing in feminization facial and body surgery, said patients now arrive at appointments with a clear expectation of their ideal “after.”

NBC10 Boston

NBC10 Boston

“People will come in with photos of others that have used artificial intelligence or other visual modification software to look more like themselves,” said Speigel, “What we’re seeing is a more empowered and a more knowledgeable group of young women who come in because they know there are things they can do.”

Spiegel noted he has long noticed the trend for young women wanting to preserve their youth, counteracting the signs of aging around the eyes and between the eyebrows using facelifts and blepharoplasties. Now, he said clients define attractiveness as matching the digitally enhanced image of themselves made with the quick click of the “retouch” wand on social media platforms.

“You know what’s going on is that with social media and the omnipresent telephone and screens in our lives,” said Spiegel, “We are subjected to so many images in such rapid succession, like has never happened at any time in human history.”

‘No escape from this idea of what bodies should look like’

Dr. Jill Walsh, founder of Digital Aged Consulting Group and researcher and lecturer at Boston University, studies how social media shapes teens’ lives and how parents can guide their children to use technology intentionally. Her work connects digital behavior and psychology, exploring how AI and algorithms especially affect young women.

NBC10 Boston

NBC10 Boston

During a focus group in October with a group of young women, Walsh jotted a variety of words on a whiteboard like “Ozempic,” “body neutral,” and “body positivity.” 

Among all the categories, the women wanted to talk about one thing in particular: the messages they received about their bodies on social media.

“All we’re ever doing is talking about and policing bodies,” Walsh observed. “Even body positivity is still all about your body, right? And there’s sort of no escape from this idea of what bodies should look like.” 

In her mind, AI is going down a darker hole than meets the eye. One of the most alarming developments, she notes, is deep fakes or AI-generated videos that take real people – from family members to politicians or yourself  – to make them say or do whatever they want.

“I can take this body and put my face on it and that’s getting better and better,” Walsh said, while gesturing towards herself. “I do worry about the idealized version of what we’re going to be seeing. I think all of those are really front of mind for me right now.”

If people continue to doomscroll through TikTok, X, or Instagram and see endless content of nose jobs, face edits, or AI-generated supermodel versions of themselves, these behaviors slowly become normalized, Walsh opined. 

Women are not measuring themselves up with the regular Calabasas supermodels and influencers, but with digitally perfected versions of their own faces.

Walsh said it is hard to pinpoint how this fast-moving, sophisticated technology is taking effect on young women, but she does know that it exploits psychological trends that have infamously shown to have dangerous effects.

“We’re always looking for the person who has more,” Walsh said. “What we do know for sure is that comparison is really bad for our well-being, and for some people can lead to anxiety, depression, disordered eating.”

‘You feel tempted to apply a filter to fit in’

According to a report published by Pew Research Center, public commentary generally assumes Gen Z to be the most frequent users of AI. College students are often accused of using AI to manage coursework, but the role of AI in a student’s life before and after class is lesser known.

“If I’m trying to compare products like a certain, you know, lipstick or blush and compare prices and show me, okay, where can I get this for the lowest price?” said Fronduto, “You’re putting in pictures and getting a completely different output, and you’re asking it to change things.”

Social media should be an enjoyable platform to interact and connect with friends, but undetectable AI and digital enhancement has skewed reality and set unrealistic expectations on users, Fronduto believes. 

“You feel tempted to apply a filter to fit in thinking that, Oh, I’m just enhancing myself,” Fronduto said. “It’s tempting and I can empathize. Even the filters that make your lips look better and your nose look better, everything is kind of the touch of a button.”

The story was written by Hijazi and Vineeth and edited by Kath.

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NBC10 Boston