The prestigious TIME100 Impact Dinner recently convened top minds in technology and fashion to unveil how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to fundamentally redefine consumer experience and creative innovation within the industry, signaling a future where personalization and digital engagement take center stage.
On Wednesday, October 22, 2025, a significant gathering of leaders from the spheres of business, art, fashion, and technology took place on the 102nd floor of New York’s One World Trade Center. This exclusive TIME100 Impact Dinner served as a crucial platform to delve into the profound ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to sculpt the future of fashion, with a particular emphasis on the evolving customer journey.
The event, presented by Microsoft and Ralph Lauren, was centered around an insightful panel discussion. Moderated by TIME’s editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs, the conversation brought together distinct perspectives on how AI is not just a tool, but a transformative force.
The Visionaries Shaping Fashion’s AI Frontier
The esteemed panel featured three key voices, each bringing a unique dimension to the dialogue:
- David Lauren, Chief Branding and Innovation Officer for Ralph Lauren: Representing the legacy fashion brand, Lauren shared insights into integrating AI to enhance the customer experience.
- Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Industry Solutions, at Microsoft: Bransten offered a technological perspective, highlighting the strategic partnerships driving AI innovation in retail.
- Sougwen Chung, Artist and Researcher, Founder of Scilicet: Chung provided an artistic and research-driven viewpoint, exploring human and non-human collaboration in creativity.
The presence of figures like Sougwen Chung, who was also recognized in TIME’s profile as an AI Impact Award recipient, underscored the multidisciplinary nature of AI’s influence, extending beyond pure technology into art and creative expression.
“Ask Ralph”: A Glimpse into Personalized AI Shopping
A central topic of discussion was Ralph Lauren’s innovative “Ask Ralph” initiative. Launched in September, this AI-powered conversational shopping experience is a collaborative effort with Microsoft. Integrated directly into the Ralph Lauren mobile app, “Ask Ralph” offers customers stylistic inspiration by generating personalized, shoppable visual outfits based on user prompts, drawing from available inventory.
This tool exemplifies a growing trend across various industries: leveraging AI to deliver highly personalized consumer experiences. Shelley Bransten, whose team worked closely with Ralph Lauren on this development, articulated that “Technology for technology’s sake is a fool’s errand.” She emphasized that the core of their success lay in the enduring partnership between Microsoft and Ralph Lauren, a collaboration that spans 25 years and dates back to the launch of one of the industry’s first e-commerce platforms.
The long-standing relationship between the two giants highlights a shared philosophy: technology should always serve to enhance the brand experience, not become an end in itself. Bransten recounted early collaborations, where the focus was on recreating the intimate, special feeling of a physical store within digital platforms, emphasizing human connection and product experience.
Enhancing the Brand Story: AI as a Contextual Creator
David Lauren elaborated on this philosophy, stating, “When we started, we realized that the experience inside of a store is what makes it special. Clothes are just clothes. What we try to do is create a movie, an experience with how you wear the clothes, the context that you wear the clothes, the world that inspires you.”
To replicate this rich context online, Ralph Lauren turns to compelling voices and stories. The goal is to imbue products with narratives, such as linking a pair of jeans to a barn that inspired its design, or connecting a fashion look to a celebrity who embodies its spirit. This intricate storytelling is where AI now plays a pivotal role, helping to construct these immersive digital experiences. Lauren noted that the vision for their current AI tool began decades ago, evolving through various iterations until the right technology aligned with their timeless ambition.
AI as a Creative Catalyst and Equalizer
Artist and researcher Sougwen Chung offered a broader, more philosophical perspective on AI’s role in creativity. Chung described these systems as “creative catalysts,” providing a novel avenue for engaging with the artistic process of selecting and expressing oneself through clothing. They envisioned AI fostering an “interesting dialogue between the customers and the model,” deepening personal engagement with fashion.
Chung, who has collaborated with robotic systems for nearly 11 years to understand human creativity, sees AI as a new medium for “sculpting of data and technology.” This approach sparks a vital contemporary conversation about how human input shapes and is shaped by AI systems in a feedback loop.
The broader implications of AI’s impact on various industries were also touched upon, resonating with discussions from other TIME100 Impact Dinners. For instance, Ravi Kumar S, CEO of Cognizant, noted that AI acts as an “equalizer,” accelerating the path to expertise and potentially boosting productivity for entry-level workers, as discussed at another TIME100 Impact Dinner focusing on AI’s business transformation. This perspective suggests AI’s potential to democratize skills and uplift various segments of the workforce, including those involved in the operational aspects of fashion and retail.
Looking Ahead: The Democratization of Expertise
The sentiment from the fashion-focused dinner echoed a broader theme prevalent in AI discussions: the democratization of expertise. Just as AI can provide sophisticated styling advice to every customer through tools like “Ask Ralph,” it is also anticipated to empower individuals across diverse fields. Jared Kaplan, co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Anthropic, predicted that AI will enable everyone to access “very, very sophisticated advice,” accelerating scientific research and problem-solving, a point that underlines AI’s universal capacity to augment human capabilities.
Shelley Bransten highlighted Ralph Lauren’s clear vision as a differentiator in the industry, describing the “Ask Ralph” app as “a shot heard around the world,” inspiring other brands. She underscored that a combination of a clear vision for delivery and a culture of experimentation has fundamentally altered the conversation around AI in fashion. The collective vision from the TIME100 Impact Dinner points towards a future where AI isn’t just about automation, but about augmenting human experience, fostering creativity, and democratizing access to knowledge and personalization, making fashion more accessible and engaging than ever before.
