AI creates what 'average person' looks like in each US state and sparks outrage
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Technology, US News
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Reddit/NeutronicTachyon
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Technology, US News
Artificial Intelligence has been asked to create a host of things since it's creation.
A current trend is asking AI to create what it thinks a person might look like: whether that's what the so-called ideal boyfriend in each US state looks like or what someone might look like depending on the profession.
Another thing AI's created it what it believes your average Joe might look like depending on which US state they live in.
And it's safe to say the results are questionable.
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We should really all know by now that there's no such thing as the 'average person', but there are stereotypes, fashion trends and local traditions, and its these factors that seem to have inspired AI when it came to creating images of the 'average' human from a specific US state.
In a post on the Reddit thread r/midjourney, a Redditor shared a series of AI-generated images from a variety of states, along with the caption: "The most stereotypical person in [state name]."
The caption presumably represented the prompt they'd given to the AI program before letting it do its thing, with the chosen states including Texas, California, Colorado, Florida, Oregon and Maine.
And the results of the prompt are interesting, to say the least. Where to begin?
Kicking things off with Texas, we have a man dressed in some 'cowboy'-style attire, including a large cowboy hat, a brown shirt tucked into blue jeans and a wide belt buckle.
It's all flower-power in California, where the AI human has long hair blowing in the breeze, big sunglasses and a floral shirt.
While in Colorado it's a different kind of plant getting all the attention, with a woman perched on what looks to be a mountaintop packed with marijuana plants.
She's wearing a green hoodie and headband, with what looks to be a smoking joint in her hand.
I'm not sure how many people hike up weed mountains to get a hit in Colorado, but okay.
Next let's head to Florida, where a man with a long white beard stands on a road with long blue shorts, a baggy pink shirt and a sunhat, before moving to Oregon, where we're greeted by a woman with short greyish-blue hair.
And things take a dramatic turn as we head to Maine; a city known for its lobster.
To represent this, our AI man stands with a hat featuring an actual lobster on his head.
Again, I'm not sure how 'average' that is, but I've never been to Maine myself.
The AI-generated images have sparked mixed responses after being shared online, with one outraged Reddit user claiming the original poster 'clearly used unflattering prompts for the red states'.
Another unimpressed viewer commented: "Hi. Maine here. Can you not put dead lobsters all over everything? K thx."
The creations have left many people intrigued, though, with a lot of comments calling for more AI-generated images from even more states.