What this hideous AI art gets right about Madagascar

It's official. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay evolving much of technology with its uses already penetrating many aspects of life and industries more than we know. Even the art industry is shaking in its boots. AI also refers to the simulation of human intelligence into machines-learning where thanks to coding, can learn, reason, and evolve based on its experiences and information it takes in.

In this instance of AI generated art, it is the buzziest new trend dazzling audiences with access to fantastic renderings leaving artists bewildered and raising red flags about the art form. Lensa AI is the viral AI art app due to its popularity as a photo and video app for it's "magic avatar" feature. While the app has been around since 2018, the "magic avatar" feature launched in late November 2022, boosting the app at 1 point to the No. 1 spot on Apple's IOS App store.

Lensa AI works by users uploading 10-20 photos of themselves, using the AWS Cloud services to process their users' photos where an AI model is trained to edit photos to appear as if created by a digital artist.

The artist @jjonnyynnojj is a digital-art artist creating AI and NFT art. They are credited with creating the AI art in the Creapills.com publication that first led to my attention. In the now popular French article, it showcased with the help of AI, 50 countries of the world and what they would look like human.

Cute right? Not so much for the case of Madagascar...

I am going to assume that the artist nor the AI machine don't have any clue about Madagascar apart from you know lions, giraffes, lemurs, and that it's basically all jungle. I have to laugh (to keep from crying) because its so insulting and horrifying to see this rendering amongst the other visually appealing images of countries. I've since compiled a list of what information the AI must have compiled in order to make this hilariously horrible piece:

1. The emaciated lemur maybe represents the coming collapse of flora and fauna due to the impending climate disaster that will/is already affecting Madagascar. Read here!
2. The artist understood the assignment and didn’t want to offend the 22 ethnic tribes in Madagascar so chose this animal out of respect. I don’t know. But why make it so ugly?!
3. The background kind of vaguely looks like Andringitra National Park so hey, respect to our World Heritage Site since 2007.
4. Actually there is nothing right about this picture… 💀

I am glad that the conversation around Madagascar’s image and representation is brought back to the table, inescapable even in the eyes of AI. I can’t fault the AI as maybe there really isn’t much information about Madagascar or its people on the interwebs. I have previously written about how there are certain mainstream media and entertainment (side eye Dreamworks and the movie Madagascar) that does nothing for Madagascar's image. If anything, I am lamenting how difficult it is to create and foster a positive image of our country when we don't have control over it in the first place. It seems that everyone else has a say about what Madagascar is but they don't really know the real Madagascar.

The creator Audrey Randriamandrato (@audrake) has also written about the environmental and economic effects of some questionable "policy" decisions to bring in giraffes, elephants, and other popular animals to bolster Madagascar's ailing tourism sector:

The illustrator/animator Lilamirana (@mon_cher_ananas) has created a sweet and concise cartoon on how Dreamworks' Madagascar has also affected her.

Ultimately, is an AI art rendering of Madagascar into a vague monkey/lemur that deep? Yes and no. It's messed up that Madagascar was anthropomorphized into whatever that was but its an opportunity to show up and comeforth with positive images of what our real Madagascar really is like.

No, our national anthem is not "I like to move it, move it. No, Madagascar is not all jungle or tropical rainforest. No, we should not have safari animals that are not even endemic to Madagascar to bring in tourism. No, we are not helpless, subservient people who accept this poor negative treatment and perception.

I believe that the true identity of Madagascar is still forming and shaping post-colonialism and it will take work and thousands of good actions in order to turn the wheel towards positive cycles for our people that goes beyond our current life time. The story is still being written.

‍