Tyra Banks' ice cream brand removes AI models created for promo: 'AI is changing every industry' (exclusive)
Tyra Banks' ice cream brand removes AI models created for promo: 'AI is changing every industry' (exclusive)
Joey NolfiWed, June 24, 2026 at 7:30 PM UTC
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Tyra Banks in December 2025Credit: Harmony Gerber/GettyKey Points -
Tyra Banks' ice cream company SMiZE & DREAM removed at least four images of models that Entertainment Weekly has confirmed were generated using AI.
America's Next Top Model contestants have said in the past that Banks did little to help them become successful models after the show.
A representatives for Banks provides EW with an exclusive statement on the matter.
After Entertainment Weekly reached out requesting information on a series of images that appeared on its Instagram grid, supermodel Tyra Banks' viral SMiZE & DREAM ice cream brand removed at least four promotional images that EW has confirmed incorporated fake models generated using artificial intelligence.
Now, in an exclusive statement to EW, a representative for Banks addresses the move that came amid the rise of AI "changing every industry," with fashion being "no exception" to the shift.
"Models, creators, and businesses are all navigating that reality. Ms. Banks has spent her career championing talent, creating opportunities, and hiring models around the world including for SMiZE & DREAM in Australia. That commitment to people and the industry has not changed," the representative says in a statement to EW. "In fact, as Ms. Banks prepares to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her Sydney flagship ice cream shop at Darling Harbour, they will once again be working with models as part of that celebration."
Banks on 'Reality Check'; Dani Evans on 'America's Next Top Model'Credit: Netflix (2)
The representative says, "Using AI as a tool does not diminish the value of human creativity. It reflects the reality that every industry is adapting to new technology, and fashion is no different."
Banks' rep finishes, adding that, "when it comes to creativity, personality, presence, and the ability to truly connect with people, Ms. Banks would still bet on the humans."
As of last week, three editorial-style images depicting models posing with the brand's "Lil Lean" sweet treat appeared on the brand's social media page, and were viewed by EW.
This week, the images — and an additional image featuring what appeared to be an AI-generated image of a child model — were no longer present among the profile's 110 public posts. EW first reached out about the images on Monday, June 15, but did not receive a response at the time.
According to the Model Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of workers in the fashion industry, "Generative AI is being used to take advantage of existing power inequities and gray areas within the fashion industry, enabling fashion brands and others to more intensely exploit models' labor."
The group helped establish the New York State Fashion Workers Act as a result, with language on the Model Alliance website indicating that "AI may be reinforcing and accelerating harmful beauty standards, particularly along gendered and racial lines — potentially reversing progress that has been made in recent years" and "AI technologies heighten models' vulnerability to non-consensual uses of their images that many experienced as violations."
Many entertainment industry professionals and fans have lashed out at the rise of AI in movies, music, and more. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — which votes on the Oscars — this year even implemented anti-AI rules into its standards.
The SAG-AFTRA actors union also heavily criticized the creation of AI actress Tilly Norwood, with the labor organization saying in a September 2025 statement that "SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics."
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Banks has come under fire in the past from former contestants who competed on her America's Next Top Model reality show, which the Victoria's Secret Angel and supermodel launched in 2003 in the hopes of crowning a successful, working model at the end of each cycle of the program.
Many contestants have said that being on the show actually hurt their careers as models, with numerous accounts claiming that fashion industry professionals didn't want to use reality television contestants in campaigns at the time.
Cycle 17 contestant Angelea Preston recently told EW that "a lot of doors were closed in our faces because we participated" in the show, and invoked what's often referred to in the ANTM fandom as the "ANTM stigma" that contestants have said preceded them when they went on castings.
"We had no help. After your final episode airs, you're out there on your own," Preston told EW, echoing similar sentiment expressed by cycle 1 winner Adrianne Curry.
Curry has long voiced her opinions on Banks and the reality show, particularly after the release of Netflix's Reality Check docuseries, which included several contestants speaking out about the program. The docuseries included footage of Banks saying in an old Entertainment Tonight clip from 2003 (above): "I'm very involved. I'm actually going to be managing the winner, along with IMG Models. I'm going to be their manager," Banks claimed in the footage, though Curry eventually disputed that Banks did that for her after she won cycle 1.
"After being gaslighted by Tyra, [producer] Ken [Mok] and fans... told im just bitter...told it expected more than what was promised...I cried watching this. Ive never felt more validated in my LIFE," Curry wrote in a comment, adding in a separate post, "Im so glad tge [sic] gaslighting fans did to me for being upset I didnt get what was promised STOPS now...straight from her mouth....I didnt get managed. I didnt get a Revlon contract."
In a 2023 interview with EW, Curry opened up about being assaulted by a stranger on the streets of Paris during filming (which was partially captured on camera), and alleged that she didn't receive the full prize package she said the show promised her during production.
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"What I won was to go to Revlon corporate, sit in a back room, have a makeup artist put makeup on my face for a team of about seven people watching me. Who the f--- would fight as hard as we fought for that?" Curry told us, elaborating that she felt "f---ing humiliated" by the move at the time — though, she maintained that she was paid around $15,000 for the job. Still, she alleged it was a far cry from the "huge Revlon models" Banks indicated ANTM models would become after the show. (A representative for Banks declined to comment on Curry's allegations at the time.)
Banks founded SMiZE & DREAM as a tribute to her mother, Carolyn London, with a pop-up version previously operating in Washington, D.C. before Banks opened a flagship store in Australia.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
