It’s payback time.
For years, humans have been imagining what robots look like — now, the machines are flipping the script.
Ask one of the growing number of artificially intelligent oracles to depict what a typical male might look like in various countries around the world — the characterizations can be less than flattering.
The latest evidence comes from the UK, where a social media channel dedicated to showcasing local culture asked AI to create hyperrealistic videos of typical guys in various countries.
“Every country has these men… which one is yours?” a human behind the @reimagineuk Instagram account inquired in the caption.
It’s safe to say that the American caricature might inspire some rage against the machine.
According to AI, US men sport bushy “Duck Dynasty” beards, cowboy hats, plaid vests like Larry the Cable Guy, and chow down on mondo double-decker burgers.
At least they didn’t make us look fat — for once.
Not so lucky were our across-the-pond counterparts in the UK — portrayed as pale, heavyset hooligans in track pants and soccer club shirts.
But while AI’s American poster child may have beaten England’s, neither fared as well as some of our brethren from across the globe.
For instance, per the digital impressionist, the Portugal man was trim, tan and bearded with a white shirt and floral vest — one Instagram commenter claimed he was a dead ringer for Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Meanwhile, the Italian man was similarly model-esque with slacks, a suit jacket, loafers and a collared white shirt that’s slightly ajar toward the top to show off his chiseled pectorals.
Other caricatures included a bald Russian man wearing a track suit and chains, a slim South Korean with a pink K-pop-style hairdo, a Nigerian guy in a bombastic floral three-piece suit and gold chains with a watch on each wrist, a German DJ with cargo shorts, giant headphones, tats and platinum blonde hair.
Rounding out the stereotypes were a Japanese office worker with a tie and collared white shirt tucked into his slacks, a trim French guy in a black turtleneck and glasses, and a Spaniard in matador-inspired attire.
The cultural profiles drew mixed reactions with some viewers claiming that these portrayals were spot-on.
“France is so accurate,” gushed one, while another wrote, “who’s moving to Italy.”
“USA and a hamburger,” exclaimed a third. “I bet you said hamburger with an American accent.”
However, others took umbrage at the stereotypes with one critic writing.
“That Spaniard looks Mexican,” accused one. “That AI is not very good at geography.”
“We don’t dress like that in Spain,” spluttered an indignant local.
“USA depends on a state-by-state basis,” scoffed another. “Done the UK pretty badly as well.”
One commenter critiqued, “No such thing as a stereotypical American. We are so different from East to West Coast and North to South.”
“Stereotypes are always stupid,” declared one viewer.
Cultural inaccuracies aside, AI’s propensity for generating naturalistic people has major ramifications beyond coming off as insensitive.
In November, a UK woman who fell for a “US army colonel” she met on Tinder discovered later that he was a romance scammer after he swindled her out of over $20,000 by deploying hyperrealistic AI videos.
“I’ve never been conned like this in my life,” lamented the 60-something victim, who goes by Mary.
