Anna Wintour Discusses the Challenges of AI at BSME’s Lunch Hosted by Deborah Joseph
LONDON — There are two groups of people in British publishing and fashion the day after Glastonbury — those recovering from the aftermath of the weeklong music festival and those who are gathered at the Rosewood London for a lunch hosted by Deborah Joseph, editor in chief of Glamour U.K., European editorial director of the glossy title and chair of the BSME. The event had a special guest appearance by her boss, Anna Wintour.
Designers Christopher Kane, Simone Rocha and Erdem Moralıoğlu attended the lunch alongside magazine editors Lisa Markwell of The Telegraph’s Saturday magazine and Hattie Brett from Grazia U.K. and fashion journalists such as Lisa Armstrong and Suzy Menkes.
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The lunch was a mix of old and new publishing coming together — a rarity outside of cocktail parties and fashion week in London.
Joseph introduced Wintour by recalling their Zoom encounter during the pandemic, when Joseph was interviewing for the top job at Glamour and her new dog stepped onto her laptop keyboard, along with one of her children walking in on the interview.
“It’s especially lovely to be invited to speak at the British Society of Magazine Editors. Editors are among my very favorite people and to know that there are enough of us left to constitute a society is a tremendous relief [that] AI has not taken over yet,” said Wintour, who recently received the British title of Companion of Honour, a top accolade alongside her damehood.
“If you’re listening to me, you may be asking yourself, ‘Why the hell is she still doing it?’ It’s wonderful to be able to call David Remnick for advice anytime I want. And of course, if you stick around long enough, and you happen to be English, they very, very politely give you a medal just for hanging in there,” she joked.
Condé Nast’s global content officer said being in London at this time of year is her favorite because of the Queen’s Club Championships and Wimbledon Championships taking place.
Wintour’s speech took a serious turn around the subject of AI.
“We should be concerned about false information and hallucinations, about deep fake images, about our ability to discern the real from the not real, about how little, frankly, the AI developers themselves understand what they’re building, how it actually works [and] how we work. We should be concerned about traffic [and] what AI means for search,” she said.
Wintour subtly hinted at the challenges of fashion magazines, alluding to companies putting their money on viral social moments, which Vogue has leaned into heavily when it comes to the Met Gala and, more recently, Vogue World, which will take place on Sept. 14 in London’s Covent Garden with contributions from Mayor Sadiq Khan, Naomi Campbell, Stormzy and Michaela Coel.
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