Artificial intelligence is making waves with its stereotypical depictions of people from each US state.
AI is quite amusing until it starts taking over jobs and, as someone recently discovered, when it’s asked to portray the typical person – be it by country or, intriguingly, by individual US states.
Brace yourself as you might find these representations a bit unsettling:
Some of the most predictable stereotypes have emerged in the AI-generated images – unsurprisingly, the Texas figure is a cowboy. There are several such figures in the mix, as one might expect from the US.
However, some of the images are downright odd; for instance, California features nine women, while Arkansas’s character looks as though it belongs in a strange corporate finance meme.
AI might be capable of creating these images, but it sometimes misses the mark entirely.
Several states have fairly standard features in their AI-generated avatars, yet others leave you questioning what the technology was thinking.
Interestingly, the AI envisions the average person from Kansas as a sort of corn-hoarding creature.
This depiction led to complaints from Iowans, who felt that Kansas had unfairly claimed their title of ‘The Corn State.’ If any state is to be symbolized by a corn monster, it should be Iowa!
Poor Florida doesn’t fare much better, with the AI generating an eerie lizard-like character dressed in denim.
The only redeeming feature of Florida Man is his hat, which might be better suited covering his face rather than sitting atop his head.
He resembles the Kansas Corn Monster’s distant relative, sharing a penchant for looking rather creepy while standing still.
One noticeable AI characteristic is the inclusion of nonsensical text overlaid on images, which adds no value whatsoever.
This is one of AI’s limitations; it can create things that look similar but struggles to truly understand its creations.
Despite several states being poorly represented, Utah came across relatively well, and many expressed an interest in meeting the AI’s version of Mr. Utah.
West Virginia was another state that people felt was accurately portrayed, though it was noted that the AI didn’t do a stellar job representing women across the board.
The nine women from California seemed to be carrying the weight, as Arizona, Alaska, Nevada, and Colorado were the only other states featuring female figures.
Who knows, perhaps Iowa’s figure hides a woman beneath that mask?
At least this time, Mr. Maine has foregone the decorative lobster.