BuzzFeed uses AI to find out what Europeans think of us in each U.S. state

BuzzFeed, and yes, I know it's BuzzFeed, has come up with an interesting idea for how to employ artificial intelligence (AI).

According to the lefty website's staff writer Dave Stopera:

Here at BuzzFeed, we are constantly freaking out about what Europeans hate and love about Americans. That's why I asked AI, state by state, what Europeans REALLY think Americans from all 50 states look like. The results may, well, surprise you. Let's get started:

Disclaimer: The following images were created using generative AI image models for the sake of entertainment and curiosity. The images also reveal the biases and stereotypes that currently exist within AI models and are not meant to be seen as accurate or full depictions of human experience.

Naturally, they had to put that disclaimer in because they know their leftist readers well.

If I'm reading this right, Stopera went to some site like ChatGPT and put queries in such as 'What Europeans think of people from Alabama" or perhaps "European press" and "Alabama" and then generated an AI image to sum up the majority of the views expressed about that state in America. 

What he got were some totally gross images, in the large part, along with a handfull of flattering ones. There were a few bafflers, too, and some spot-on stereotypes shared by the rest of us.

In all, it's a really fascinating set of 50 pictures.

Here's the BuzzFeed tweet to get the flavor: 

 

 

It's a panoply of gluttony, obesity, gape-mouthed smiles and heart-attack food for the most part -- with Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin hardest hit, and Texas the worst of them all.

Massachusetts and New Jersey are depicted as thugs, with the Jersey guy depicted wearing a wife-beater and eating spaghetti.

Missouri was depicted as a haven for gluttons eating enormous amounts of discordant meat.

The Deep South, as may be expected, was depicted as various toothless Neanderthals -- from Kentucky, to Tennessee, to Alabama, to Mississippi, to Arkansas. West Virginia, which depicted a hog dance, was the worst of them all. Only Georgia and Louisiana were spared, for generally unknown reasons, possibly because of much ink from the tourist press.

Some stereotypes were baffling, such as that depicting Minnesota as a pair of old people with a pot of red stew -- haven't heard that one, or Oklahoma depicting a sexy voluptuous woman with a cowboy in one arm and what looks like a knife in another as trains go by. North Carolina was depicted as a bland suburban barbecue couple, which seemed a bit limited, too. There must be some weird stuff going on in the European press with those depictions.

Some, such as those depicted of the Dakotas, showed distant characters in crop fields, signaling that Europeans don't know much about those states at all, and same deal with Alaska, depicting a smiling man in snow.

Hawaii, Oregon and Maine were generally true to form, with different varieties of hippie couples depicted, but of course, limited by the stereotypes and probably influenced by the tourist trade.

Kansas, too, had some truth to it -- depicting an old guy in bib overalls at a county fair. I was just in Topeka, Kansas this week and ... saw that.

Montana and Wyoming got some flattering depictions of handsome rugged mounted cowboys on the range. Rhode Island, oddly enough, got a flattering Newport type.

New York and California were both depicted in ways clearly influenced by Hollywood. New York got a Wall Street Ben Affleck and California got a Paris Hilton ditzy gal, both influenced by what's written in the entertainment industry and its press. Connecticut got some modern day Puritan-looking types who came off as comical.

The southern Rockies all got maniacs -- from the casino screamer for Nevada, to the beer drunk for Arizona, to the Martians for New Mexico, to the manic mountain climber for Colorado. Whatevs.  

Families were depicted for Utah and Indiana -- very, very creepy families -- which tells us a lot about what they are hearing in Europe.

To be realistic, it depicts what the general averaging of what they are hearing about America, because that's how AI works, and so it can't be a perfect rendition of what Europeans think of us, perhaps just what they are reading about us. Also, there is no weighting for individual countries, where views may be very different. But it does generally paint an unflattering picture, which is unfortunate, given that Europe depends on the U.S. for its defense and with few exceptions, still hasn't ponied up for its NATO membership commitments. If that's what they think of the people they expect to defend them, then perhaps it's useful for us to know what they think otherwise of us and take it from there.

The project also cries out for BuzzFeed to do something else -- to conduct the same experiment depicting how Americans view each individual European country. I am confident the result would be interesting. Over to you, BuzzFeed...

Image: Twitter screen shot

 

 

 

 

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