Generative AI May Prefer to Present National-level Characteristics of Cities Based on Stereotypical Geographic Impressions at the Continental Level
This highlights a problem for geography education and outreach, as using such AI-generated images could reinforce existing stereotypes about countries, though the finding is incremental as it focuses on a specific platform.
The study tested a Chinese generative AI platform's ability to render urban street views for different countries and found it produces images with continental-level stereotypes about economic development and modernization, failing to represent diverse urban landscapes.
A simple experiment was conducted to test the ability of the Chinese-based generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Wenxin Yige, to render images of urban street views of different countries. The study found that images generated by this AI platform may contain continental-level stereotypes in terms of showing the level of economic development and modernization. Street view images generated from Wenxin Yige do not adequately represent the diverse range of urban landscapes found across different nations. Using these generated images for geography education or outreach initiatives could inadvertently strengthen people's existing stereotypical views about individual countries.