Models Sue Rainbow Shops Over Alleged AI-Generated Doppelgängers

Models are claiming that Rainbow Shops, a budget fashion retailer, has used AI to create images that look a lot like them after job opportunities started to decline. In June 2025, studio manager Phil Caraway warned the models in an email that AI could reduce their chances of getting work, as the company was using it to style products and create avatars. Although they had assignments for a while, by mid-March 2026, those bookings stopped. Around then, the models noticed marketing images that resembled them but were posed differently. On May 22, 2026, model Francheska Pujols filed a lawsuit for defamation and unauthorized likeness use, later pausing it on May 29 to negotiate privately, but refiled on June 15 in New York. Pujols emphasized that she would never pose in the way depicted in the AI images. David Cost, Rainbow's chief digital officer, mentioned the company is carefully looking into AI technologies and believes they have acted appropriately.