AI sparks debate after showing what the 'ideal' woman looks like in each country

An AI generative image software has created what the ‘ideal’ woman would look like all over the world.

As if women’s beauty standards weren’t already bad enough as it is, AI has just endorsed it a little further.

An experiment challenged AI to create the ‘ideal’ woman for every country, and it seems as though the softwares is still very much run by social stereotypes.

It’s a scary reality which begs the question - will we ever escape these ideals?

Given how highly charged conversations around beauty standards are for a whole variety of very good reasons, asking AI to make images of 'ideal' women based on the country they're from does rather seem like poking the metaphorical hornets' nest, but here we are.

This is what the ideal British woman looks like, apparently. (Great Green Wall)

The images range from the almost plausible to the frankly ridiculous.

Many just look like someone conforming to stereotypical western beauty standards, but draped in the flag of their country - such as the United Kingdom, which is giving serious Lady Diana vibes.

AI generates images by drawing on databases of existing information about a particular topic. This is why artists are up in arms about it, because it has to use the work of human artists to 'create' art.

In this case, the prompt given to the AI by Great Green Wall was this: "Create a realistic photo of what the [country name] public consider the ideal woman's body to be Miss [country name], please show a full length photo of the woman in a dress. No text in the image."

And this is Estonia. (Great Green Wall)

When we're talking about beauty standards any image generated by AI will be limited by the data it is using to create that image.

For all the shouting and gesticulating about the future being now, AI is still very much informed by our own prejudices and ideas.

Unfortunately this seems to be very much the case in some of the pictures, like Egypt.

The results for Egypt were questionable. (Great Green Wall)

The image barely reflects modern Egypt at all, instead it looks like someone who is playing Cleopatra. Not the best result.

It seems largely to be divided into three groups.

Women in bikinis (so much for the 'wearing a dress' instruction), women wearing their national flag, and women in their country's traditional dress.

Countries including Poland, Italy, and the Czech Republic all feature an interpretation of their national dress. The same goes for China, Japan, and Pakistan.

The ideal Hungarian woman has a six pack, according to the AI. (Great Green Wall)

However in terms of just downright weirdness, one country stuck out from the others.

There are definitely things that you have in mind with the 'ideal' US beauty standard.

Marilyn Monroe, bleached blonde hair, Vegas showgirls, everything is big, bold, and exaggerated.

For the US, the AI's got a very Marilyn Monroe thing going on. (Great Green Wall)

Those things do feature, except for one weird mash up. There's tons of Marilyn, Hollywood glamour, and bleached blonde hair, but everything is also the Statue of Liberty.

It's the crown and the poses for me...

It seems that in the United States of America, Lady Liberty is the true First Lady, at least according to this model of AI.