Former America's Next Top Model contestant Tatiana Elizabeth has accused social media influencer Lauren Blake Boultier of using artificial intelligence to swap her face onto one of Elizabeth's photographs from the 2024 US Open and reposting it as her own content, TMZ Sports reported.
Elizabeth, the runner-up on Cycle 23 of the VH1 modelling competition in 2016, discovered the altered image on Blake's Instagram page earlier this week. The original photo was taken at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. Blake's version featured her own face on Elizabeth's body, with the location tagged as the Miami Open.
The resemblance was unmistakable. Elizabeth wore a green-and-white tennis outfit with a Louis Vuitton handbag in the original shot. Blake's post reproduced every detail, from the spectators visible in the background to a tattoo on the right wrist, The Root reported. Tennis star Coco Gauff spotted the discrepancy and commented on Blake's post that the court pictured 'is not even in Miami,' according to the US Sun.
'Bar for bar,' Elizabeth said in a TikTok video. 'The weirdest part about this is that it's not even an AI influencer. This is a real person who used AI to put her head on my body.'
She said she was not trying to bully anyone. 'I'm just a little perplexed. I just want to know the reason,' she added.
Blake Blames AI Content System for the Face Swap
@tatiana.elizabethh it’s getting weird I’m moving to mars #fyp #greenscreen DECAPITATED lol not castrated *** long day lol 🫣
♬ original sound - Whitney Leavitt
Blake, who has 1.6 million Instagram followers and works as a part-time DAZN correspondent, responded in a statement to TMZ Sports. She attributed the image to an AI content tool her team operates.
'That shouldn't have happened, and I take full responsibility,' she said. 'This came from an AI content system my team uses to generate images at scale. I did not see the original image or intentionally set out to copy anyone's work, but that doesn't change the outcome.'
The post has since been deleted. Blake disabled comments across her Instagram and TikTok accounts and pledged to personally approve all content going forward. A community note was later added to her most recent Instagram photo dump, stating the user had been 'exposed for using AI to put her face on other women's bodies,' The Root revealed.
Elizabeth Rejects Apology, Points to Wider Pattern
In a follow-up interview with TMZ Sports on Wednesday, Elizabeth said she did not buy the response.
'I don't think it's coming from a sincere place,' she said. 'I think she just wants the situation to blow over and to get back to scheduled programming.'
She went further. 'I don't think she was honest. I don't think she is authentic in her apology. I think she's just saying what she thinks she needs to say in order to move past this.'
Elizabeth also revealed that tennis legend Serena Williams had personally invited her to the 2024 US Open, a moment she described as the result of years spent building a career in modelling. For Black women in the industry, she said, those opportunities do not come easily.
'Historically, Black women have been copied, we've been used as an inspo, all these things, and we don't get our due respect or our credit,' she said. 'I'm working ten times as hard as a Black woman to be able to be in these spaces, and you get to just take that in an instant? I don't think that's okay.'
Elizabeth, also the founder of skincare brand Skin Buttr, said she did not condone the online pile-on Blake has faced but maintained the influencer brought the scrutiny on herself by deflecting blame onto AI and her team. Blake's most recent Instagram statement said she was 'listening and appreciative' of the feedback. It did not include a direct apology to Elizabeth by name.
