Leena Nair, the pioneering CEO of Chanel and the first woman of color to lead the renowned French luxury brand, recently shared an amusing AI story that highlights the limitations of current technology. Speaking at Stanford University, she recalled her experience using ChatGPT to generate an image of Chanel’s “senior leadership team” during a visit to Microsoft’s premises. The AI-generated image, however, missed the mark, showing an all-male group in suits—a depiction far removed from the brand’s female-centric identity.
The incident occurred when Leena Nair, along with her team, was experimenting with ChatGPT at Microsoft. Curious to see the results, she asked the AI chatbot to visualize Chanel’s leadership team on a Microsoft visit. The AI depicted men in corporate attire, missing Chanel’s fashion-forward, female-centric brand ethos.
Nair’s reaction reflected her astonishment: “This is Chanel. Yes, 76% of my organization is women. 96% of my clients are women. Female CEO. It was a 100% male team, not even in fashionable clothes,” she noted humorously. “Like come on! This is what you’ve got to offer, ChatGPT?”
Nair also discussed her inspiring journey from a small town in Kolhapur, India, to the global stage. Breaking through cultural and corporate barriers, she became Unilever’s first female Chief Human Resources Officer before joining Chanel in 2021. Her candid anecdotes shed light on the importance of female representation in leadership and the challenges of shattering glass ceilings. The YouTube channel of Stanford Graduate School of Business captured this conversation, where she shared the invaluable leadership lessons she has gleaned over the years, along with her commitment to paving the way for future female leaders.
Nair’s ChatGPT story entertains while highlighting AI’s limitations in interpreting diverse, nuanced organizational cultures. This incident reminds us that AI tools like ChatGPT are advancing rapidly. However, they still struggle to fully grasp the complexities of human-centric organizations such as Chanel. Understanding and representing such intricate cultures requires more than technological advancements alone.
