I use the AI tool Douba AI for assignment 2: digital selfie creation. During the few minutes I waited for the AI image to be generated, I would think about what kind of picture the AI would create, and the image I received was completely different from what I had imagined. It's like in an art class, where the teacher gives a theme, and everyone's homework in the class is completely different. This is an exciting experience. And the content generated by the AI is a young, short-haired East Asian girl wearing a pink cheongsam standing in the center of the picture. The background is a Canadian campus, and autumn maple trees, and around the figure are elements of science-fiction maple leaves.
I can be the girl in the picture or not. First of all, in reality, I rarely wear a cheongsam, but there are lots of people who think the cheongsam is a cultural symbol of Chinese women, which is a very simple and obvious cultural element. AI classifies people automatically through algorithms. And the red maple leaves are readily recognized as Canada's cultural symbol. This AI-generated picture gives me the feeling that I am. If this is how people from other countries see me, then this is me, a Chinese girl in Canada. But when I look at the details, I will find that this is not me, and definitely not me. This is the stereotype of the outside world towards Chinese international students, and this is the identity and label given to me by the AI algorithm.
Hi Yuqing! I really liked your post—your point about the cheongsam and maple leaves feeling like the AI taking a “shortcut” was so relatable. Those symbols are easy to recognize, but you explained really clearly how that can turn into a stereotype instead of actually reflecting you. I also appreciated how you used the “this is me but not me” feeling to show how algorithms label people, especially international students.
ReplyDeleteYuqing, thank you for this honest reflection.
ReplyDeleteYour statement "I can be the girl in the picture or not" powerfully captures something important about algorithmic representation; these systems often show us how we are seen by others rather than who we actually are.
Your observation that the AI defaulted to "simple and obvious cultural elements" like the cheongsam and maple leaves is insightful. This raises important questions: why does the AI rely on these stereotypes? Whose perspective determines that these symbols adequately represent Chinese identity or the international student experience? Your recognition that "this is the identity and label given to me by the AI algorithm" gets at something crucial about how these systems encode external perspectives rather than lived experience.
For Assignment 3, you have rich material to work with. I encourage you to explore what aspects of your identity are missing from this stereotypical representation; who are you beyond these easily recognizable symbols? What does it mean when AI systems reduce cultural identity to simple visual markers? You've laid good groundwork for developing these questions into deeper critical analysis.
Looking forward to seeing where you take this!