Creepy AI-generated photos of’stereotypical Australian’ reveal white males and dangerous animals

Four creative images developed by AI to depict’stereotypical Australians’ have sparked debate, with some critics concerned about how AI sees the country.

As technology advances, the application of AI to make artworks from simple written inputs has resulted in an incredible profusion of images.

The technology may change renowned paintings into alternative art styles or produce whole new artworks based on text prompts, ranging from hyper-realistic landscapes to humorous selfies of historical individuals.

However, the invitation to create an image of’stereotypical Australians’ has left some people disappointed, with some slamming the emphasis on ‘white men’ as well as the presence of weird animals and too many Union Jacks.

AI-generated images of’stereotypical Australians’ resulted in artworks picturing predominantly white males in the outback surrounded by bizarre animals.

On Saturday, Reddit user rastlosreisender shared the four produced images.

Three appear to be set in outback Australia, such is the country’s frontier image while being one of the world’s most urbanised.

Nine of the eleven people depicted in the four images appear to be male, two look to be female, and almost all appear to be white.

One photograph depicts two white males sitting outside, strangely dressed in ties, with odd creatures about their feet.

Another image shows two men on laptops sitting in the living room of a house with seven dogs and no fewer than seven Union Jack flags pasted on the walls and floor.

A third image depicts a brunette man and a blonde woman, both with blue eyes, sitting on a rock and gazing pensively into the distance, with an outback sunset and the Australian flag in the background.

Another photograph depicts an outback setting, with five people seated in front of a weatherboard shack, and more strange-looking animals in the foreground and sky.

The photographs drew a flurry of critical comments, with many noting that “the closer one looks, the creepier it gets.”

One image depicted two men and their seven dogs – incorrectly portrayed – inside their living room, which was festooned with Union Jacks.

Another created image depicts five humans sitting outside an outback shack, surrounded by unusual creatures and flying bizarre birds. Three arms protrude from one of the figures’ vests.

Apart from the bad rendering of arms and hands (one figure had three arms sprouting from his sleeveless vest), social media users complained the AI photographs did not reflect the actual Australian.

The algorithm basically assembles and combines web images with the phrase Australia associated to them, which results in oddities like hybrid creatures, the flag appearing in the sky because it has stars on it, and an over-emphasis on the bush because that’s what many people upload photos of.

Despite the fact that AI photographs were compiled objectively, Reddit users were disappointed that the images did not correspond to their chosen perceptions of the country.

‘Funny not funny how most of the persons shown look to be of white Anglo Saxon ancestry, despite the fact that Australia has one of the most diverse multicultural populations of any nation,’ commented one commenter.

‘The AI appears to forget or be unaware of the indigenous inhabitants,’ said a second.

A third observer noted that AI perceived Australians to be “scared, lost white people.”

A fourth person commented, saying, ‘AI databases really need to be fed something other than photographs of white dudes.’

Others said the fauna was ‘nightmare fuel’ and that the AI-generated animals were not only wrong but also not real, with one person calling one of the animals a kangatoo.

‘This is an Aussie. ‘What the f**k is wrong with the animals?’ one individual asked.

‘The animals are strangely intimidating, especially by Australian standards,’ remarked another.

‘Nothing like us AI, what on earth are all these weird animals? ‘Where are the kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, goannas, platypus, kookaburras, wallabies, and possums?’ added a third individual.

Others were offended by the large number of Union Jacks and badly drawn Australian flags.

‘Seems like the stars on the Australian flag have confused the AI – it has put it in the sky a couple of times and when on the walls, it’s just the union jack that it identifies as a flag,’ one user commented.

‘It’s funny how the union jack is plastered everywhere yet the only Southern Cross is as stars in the sky,’ a second person wrote.

‘What the hell is that British flag on display? In Australia, you’ll never see merely the Union Jack on a flag. Despite the inclusion of the British flag on the Australian flag, a third person observed, “retarded AI.”

A fourth commenter said, ‘I was unaware that we had such a fixation for the Union Jack.’

Another photograph shows a brunette man and a blonde woman, both with blue eyes, sitting on a rock in the Australian outback. An Australian flag hangs in the upper right corner, its stars shared with the sky.

One user claimed that AI was ‘not very brilliant,’ and that instead of simply collating photographs, the programme should have accessed the census and discovered that Australia in recent times is ‘not youthful Anglo Saxon,’ and that the vast majority live in cities.

AI searches the internet for photos that already exist and then creates a new image based on the results.

It is unclear how they arrived at their conclusions because they do not demonstrate their work.

However, they are assumed to take into account interactions with photos shared on social media, such as likes and comments, as well as internet searches.

The article was first published here: SOURCE