A White influencer thought she’d get away using AI to put her face on a black model’s body, but the fallout went beyond just a fake photo

In a world where people are often keen to maintain their beauty standards for their audience, we have heard about various techniques they opt for to fulfil this requirement. However, the use of AI in this case is something we don’t often encounter. A white influencer, Lauren Blake Boultier, was doing something similar and ended up putting her face on another model’s body. To anyone, this will already sound odd, and so it did to the model whose original picture was used.

The black model, Tatiana Elizabeth, was quick to call out Blake as soon as she recognized the rest of the picture. According to People, she straight-up accused the influencer of using AI to swap her face with Elizabeth’s original picture. The model didn’t call her out in person but instead ranted about the matter on her Instagram stories.

Tatiana wrote sharp words, “Pretending to be somewhere you weren’t, in something you’ve never worn, as someone you’re not… for social media. It’s a little scary.” These must have hit the influencer like the car hit an MLB announcer, as the model’s harsh response wasn’t something Blake expected when posting the AI-edited picture.

Blake thought she’d be fine, as the picture was over two years old

It looks like the influencer didn’t do it on purpose, as it was a mistake. Boultier has spoken to TMZ Sports about the situation, saying she takes “full responsibility” for it. This wasn’t her only response, as she shed light on the issue and added, “This came from an A.I. content system my team uses to generate images at scale.”

​Her side of the story continues with claims that she was unaware, “I did not see the original image or intentionally set out to copy anyone’s work, but that doesn’t change the outcome.” By showing accountability, Blake also showed respect to the model and said, “I understand this impacted another creator, especially when it comes to respecting original work, and I never want to contribute to that kind of frustration or harm within the creative community that I have been a part of for 10 years.”

This suggests Lauren is not running away from the matter, nor is she giving odd excuses. The influencer has seemingly given a clear apology, but whether it was her team or herself, the move was quite clever, especially when the original picture was two years old. Tatiana’s original picture was from the 2024 U.S. Open, and since it’s quite old at this point, Blake’s side might have thought they’d get away with this.

As both of the personalities are quite famous and have plenty of followers, like Blake’s 1.6 million, this picture failed to remain hidden from the black model. Her rant continued on Threads as well, where she wrote,”Bar for bar. The weirdest part about this is that it’s not even an AI influencer. This is a real person who used AI to put her head on my body. She geotagged MIAMI as if she’s at the Miami Open. When my photo was taken at the US open two years ago.”

There’s clear frustration from the model’s side. The use of AI in creativity is something that even SZA has criticized, and in Tatiana’s case, it’s about a white woman putting her face on her body. Blake’s response seems fair, but for someone like Tatiana, it’s indeed awkward and disturbing. As of yet, this story hasn’t taken a legal turn and might not in the future.