• Florence Pugh has said it's "exhausting" to be a young woman in the acting industry.
• Pugh told The Times of London that female movie stars face being called divas if they don't follow stereotypes.
• "There are fine lines women have to stay within," she said.

Florence Pugh has opened up about what it's like to be a young woman in Hollywood, describing the experience as "exhausting."

In an interview with The Times of London published on Sunday, the 28-year-old British star reflected on her decadelong career as an actor and issues in the industry.

"There are fine lines women have to stay within, otherwise they are called a diva, demanding, problematic. And I don't want to fit into stereotypes made by others," Pugh said. "It is really exhausting for a young woman to just be in this industry, and actually other industries."

Pugh rose to fame after making her movie debut in "The Falling" in 2014. She followed that up with roles in "Midsommar," "Black Widow," "Oppenheimer," "Dune: Part Two," and "Little Women" — the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination.

Pugh told The Times that throughout her career, she had loved challenging ideas she didn't like, such as how women in the public eye are expected to look.

"I remember watching this industry and feeling that I wasn't represented. I remember godawful headlines about how Keira Knightley isn't thin anymore, or watching women getting torn apart despite being talented and beautiful," she said. "The only thing people want to talk about is some useless crap about how they look. And so I didn't care to abide by those rules."

Pugh has frequently spoken out over comments to do with her body or look.

In 2019, the actor called out a publication for "singling out my 'chunky' thighs" in a review of one of her movies.

The "We Live in Time" star also told The Telegraph in 2022 that she was told to lose weight and change her "look" when she was cast in a failed television pilot at the start of her career.

Pugh also spoke out over comments she received after wearing a transparent pink gown to a Valentino Haute Couture show in 2022.

In the interview with The Times, Pugh said: "I wanted to challenge how women were perceived, how we are supposed to look."

"Actually I wasn't trying to challenge. I just wanted to be there, to make space for a version of a person that isn't all the things they used to have to be," Pugh said. "I'm proud I've stuck by myself and look the way I look — I'm really interested in people who are still angry with me for not losing more weight, or who just hate my nose ring."

"I am not going to be able to just change the way that things are — but I can certainly help young women coming into this industry by making conversations happen where they weren't before," she added.

The actor recently revealed that she had been previously diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis and that it had prompted her to freeze her eggs.

• Shutterstock added gen AI to its stock-content library to generate $104 million in revenue.
• The company has partnered with tech giants including Meta, Amazon, Apple, OpenAI, and Nvidia.
• This article is part of "CXO AI Playbook" — straight talk from business leaders on how they're testing and using AI.

Shutterstock, founded in 2003 and based in New York, is a global leader in licensed digital content. It offers stock photos, videos, and music to creative professionals and enterprises.

In late 2022, Shutterstock made a strategic decision to embrace generative AI, becoming one of the first stock-content providers to integrate the tech into its platform.

Dade Orgeron, the vice president of innovation at Shutterstock, leads the company's artificial-intelligence initiatives. During his tenure, Shutterstock has transitioned from a traditional stock-content provider into one that provides several generative-AI services.

While Shutterstock's generative-AI offerings are focused on images, the company has an application programming interface for generating 3D models and plans to offer video generation.

Situation analysis: What problem was the company trying to solve?

When the first mainstream image-generation models, such as Dall-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney, were released in late 2022, Shutterstock recognized generative AI's potential to disrupt its business.

"It would be silly for me to say that we didn't see generative AI as a potential threat," Orgeron said. "I think we were fortunate at the beginning to realize that it was more of an opportunity."

He said Shutterstock embraced the technology ahead of many of its customers. He recalled attending CES in 2023 and said that many creative professionals there were unaware of generative AI and the impact it could have on the industry.

Orgeron said that many industry leaders he encountered had the misconception that generative AI would "come in and take everything from everyone." But that perspective felt pessimistic, he added. But Shutterstock recognized early that AI-powered prompting "was design," Orgeron told Business Insider.

Key staff and stakeholders

Orgeron's position as vice president of innovation made him responsible for guiding the company's generative-AI strategy and development.

However, the move toward generative AI was preceded by earlier acquisitions. Orgeron himself joined the company in 2021 as part of its acquisition of TurboSquid, a company focused on 3D assets.

Shutterstock also acquired three AI companies that same year: Pattern89, Datasine, and Shotzr. While they primarily used AI for data analytics, Orgeron said the expertise Shutterstock gained from these acquisitions helped it move aggressively on generative AI.

Externally, Shutterstock established partnerships with major tech companies including Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Reka. For example, Shutterstock's partnership with Nvidia enabled its generative 3D service.

AI in action

Shutterstock's approach to AI integration focused on the user experience.

Orgeron said the company's debut in image generation was "probably the easiest-to-use solution at that time," with a simple web interface that made AI image generation accessible to creative professionals unfamiliar with the technology.

That stood in contrast to competitors such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, which, at the time Shutterstock launched its service in January 2023, had a basic user interface. Midjourney, for instance, was initially available only through Discord, an online chat service more often used to communicate in multiplayer games.

This focus on accessibility set the stage for Shutterstock.AI, the company's dedicated AI-powered image-generation platform. While Shutterstock designed the tool's front end and integrated it into its online offerings, the images it generates rely on a combination of internally trained AI models and solutions from external partners.

Shutterstock.AI, like other image generators, lets customers request their desired image with a text prompt and then choose a specific image style, such as a watercolor painting or a photo taken with a fish-eye lens.

However, unlike many competitors, Shutterstock uses information about user interactions to decide on the most appropriate model to meet the prompt and style request. Orgeron said Shutterstock's various models provide an edge over other prominent image-generation services, which often rely on a single model.

But generative AI posed risks to Shutterstock's core business and to the photographers who contribute to the company's library. To curb this, Orgeron said, all of its AI models, whether internal or from partners, are trained exclusively on Shutterstock's legally owned data. The company also established a contributor fund to compensate content creators whose work was used in the models' training.

Orgeron said initial interest in Shutterstock.AI came from individual creators and small businesses. Enterprise customers followed more cautiously, taking time to address legal concerns and establish internal AI policies before adopting the tech. However, Orgeron said, enterprise interest has accelerated as companies recognize AI's competitive advantages.

Did it work, and how did leaders know?

Paul Hennessy, the CEO of Shutterstock, said in June the company earned $104 million in annual revenue from AI licensing agreements in 2023. He also projected that this revenue could reach up to $250 million annually by 2027.

Looking ahead, Shutterstock hopes to expand AI into its video and 3D offerings. The company's generative 3D API is in beta. While it doesn't offer an AI video-generation service yet, Orgeron said Shutterstock plans to launch a service soon. "The video front is where everyone is excited right now, and we are as well," he said. "For example, we see tremendous opportunity in being able to convert imagery into videos."

The company also sees value in AI beyond revenue figures. Orgeron said Shutterstock is expanding its partnerships, which now include many of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. In some cases, partners allow Shutterstock to use their tech to build new services; in others, they license data from Shutterstock to train AI.

"We're partnered with Nvidia, with Meta, with HP. These are great companies, and we're working closely with them," he said. "It's another measure to let us know we're on the right track."

• Billie Eilish says she developed body image issues after a preteen obsession with Brandy Melville.
• Brandy Melville is a fast-fashion clothing retailer known for its "one size fits most" sizing policy.
• A 2021 Business Insider investigation exposed allegations of discrimination and sexual exploitation at the retailer.

Billie Eilish says she developed body image issues as a tween because of her obsession with the one-size clothing brand Brandy Melville.

In an interview with Complex published on Thursday, the singer opened up about how the fast-fashion brand heavily impacted the way she viewed her body.

The "What Was I Made For?" singer said that all she wore as a child were fairy dresses and skirts, even though she's now known for her baggy streetwear style.

"I never wore pants or shorts when I was a little kid," Eilish told Complex. "But when I got to be about 11, I got obsessed with this brand called Brandy Melville. And they only sold clothes in one size. I was chubbier and I was obsessed with these clothes, but I'd buy a shirt and it wouldn't fit me. That's when my body problems started. I was around the age of 10 or 11."

She shared that she went through puberty early and that she "wasn't slim." Not only that, being in ballet further exacerbated her body image issues, she said.

"I was wearing all these baggy clothes, and it was my style, but at the same time, it was how I could feel comfortable in my body and not feel tied to how my body looks. I didn't want my body to be part of my outfit. I wanted my outfit to be my outfit, and my body happens to be inside it," Eilish said.

Brandy Melville is a popular clothing brand known for selling basics like crop tops and mini skirts, and its "one size fits most" sizing policy.

In 2021, the brand came under fire for claims regarding a toxic and exploitative workplace culture. Several Brandy Melville employees told Business Insider's Kate Taylor that the company's top execs frequently discriminated against non-white employees, crossed professional boundaries with its young retail employees, and made sexist and antisemitic jokes. Brandy Melville did not offer any comment to BI in 2021 in response to the allegations.

In December 2022, the owners of Brandy Melville agreed to pay $1.45 million to settle claims from former workers that the retailer had violated California labor laws by forcing them to work "off the clock" and without breaks. However, they denied all wrongdoing in the court documents.

In July, Brandy Melville opened a sister store — named St. George — in Santa Monica, California, where some items are now available in a "medium" size, The Cut reported.

Representatives for Eilish and Brandy Melville did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.