AI Makes a Typical Day in Grand Rapids, Michigan Look Like a Dystopian Nightmare

AI (also known as artificial intelligence) is everywhere now. Half of the time when you see an image on social media, you have to think to yourself, "is that even real? Did they use AI?" While AI has a ton of useful qualities, it's been proven that creating great, accurate images is currently not its strong suit.

So, I decided to give it a whirl. I asked Canva's Magic Studio to help me out and show me what it thought a typical day in Grand Rapids, Michigan looks like. It's... wild. And further shows that while AI can be useful, it's not as good as an actual, skilled human.

Frankly, the AI-generated photos kind of make Grand Rapids look like a dystopian nightmare. One of them looks a bit like a scene straight out of "The Walking Dead".

To be fair to the bots, I didn't give them a TON to work with. The only prompt I gave was "A typical day in Grand Rapids, Michigan."

Let's see what they thought that looks like, shall we?

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AI-Generated Photos of a 'Typical Day in Grand Rapids, Michigan'

First, there's this.

I have questions. What is going on with the faces of every single one of these people? Does that one person just have trash on their head? And is that a train bridge going over a major street?

Nice try, AI, but not quite right.

Let's give it another try, shall we?

This one is a bit more of a split-screen situation, and at first, I thought, "Okay... maybe they've figured it out!" But, no. It turns out that AI is bad at depicting both people and bicycles.

The top of the photo is getting closer, though it makes Grand Rapids look a bit Chicago-ish.

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The third attempt got much closer to depicting what a typical day in downtown Grand Rapids looks like.

AI really, really wants us to have a pedestrian bridge somewhere downtown. But alas, the pedestrian bridge that once spanned across Monroe is no longer there.

(Side note: looks like we can add vehicles to the list of things that AI sometimes has a hard time depicting accurately.)

AI did a little better with the vehicles on this next attempt.

This one is... close? We don't have any highways that wide in Grand Rapids, and if this is a typical day on 131 or 196, there would have to be way more traffic (and orange barrels).

I thought, perhaps that AI was learning a little more about Grand Rapids at this point, but then... They served me the zombie apocalypse.

Maybe they were going for more of an old-timey feeling? But, honestly, this looks like a scene out of the opening sequence of "The Walking Dead". I keep trying to Where's Waldo it and find Rick Grimes or Daryl Dixon.

And finally, finally, AI seemed to get it mostly right.

Aside from the train(?), I think this captures the vibe of Grand Rapids pretty well. (And how awesome would it be if we did have a train like that in this city? Or is it just a really long bus? I'm unsure.)

Want to explore the real Grand Rapids? Check out all of these cool games, gear, and equipment you can rent for free from the Grand Rapids Gear Library.