BodyBlendz Accused of Using AI to Recreate Competitors’ Skincare Images
An allegation against skincare brand BodyBlendz puts a practical risk for small creative businesses in focus: images made for one client may be reused to
An allegation against skincare brand BodyBlendz puts a practical risk for small creative businesses in focus: images made for one client may be reused to promote a competitor, potentially with AI editing. A Sydney photographer says promotional posts from the brand appear to reproduce work she created for another skincare company.
The accusations surfaced in an investigation into BodyBlendz, an internationally stocked brand that was once promoted on Instagram by reality star Kim Kardashian. Photographer Lucy Alcorn says several images on BodyBlendz’s Instagram were copied from photographs she shot for Luna Bronze, possibly with artificial intelligence used to alter them.
What the photographer says she saw
Alcorn has pointed to promotional imagery featuring a model, saying it resembles her work for Luna Bronze. The use of AI remains an allegation. BodyBlendz’s response to the claims is also not included in the material available.
For photographers and small brands, the concern is not limited to whether an image was copied directly. AI editing could make a familiar composition or subject look different while leaving the original creator facing a difficult task: identifying the resemblance and pursuing a claim against a larger company.
“My whole body of work that's online suddenly feels so vulnerable,” Alcorn said. She added that the situation felt frightening and questioned what might stop others from doing the same.
Pressure for stronger protections
Alcorn argues that the cost of bringing claims should be lower for people whose work is used without permission. Her case comes as Australia develops a national framework for regulating AI, which the country hopes will become a world-leading model.
The allegations do not establish how many images may be involved or whether AI was used to produce them. But they sharpen a broader question for creative businesses: how can they protect work posted online when AI tools can alter imagery, and what recourse is affordable if a larger brand uses it?
The next developments to watch are whether BodyBlendz addresses the allegations and whether the claims are supported by further evidence. For Australian creatives, the debate over AI safeguards and the cost of enforcing image rights is likely to remain central as the country shapes its regulatory framework.
