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Very interesting article on how AI generated historical images help further the American cultural hegemony on the internet and in global culture.
@histodons @histodon #history #AI #AIart https://medium.com/@socialcreature/ai-and-the-american-smile-76d23a0fbfaf
@eharlitzkern @histodons @histodon Fascinating article, but no one smiled in old photos because of the time it took to set up & take the photos. It reminds me of when I was in Krakow & had a street artist draw my portrait. He told me not to smile because it would take awhile. I ended up with a 'Mona Lisa' smile in the portrait. Da Vinci probably told her to just sit quietly & think pleasant thoughts as did my artist. Smiles in photos only became common when taking photos became quick.
@KathleenFuller @histodons @histodon I’ve heard that about old photos as well, but I wonder how true that is. Ask any beauty pageant contestant about holding a smile, and they will probably tell you that it’s possible to hold a smile for a very long time. 
@eharlitzkern @KathleenFuller @histodons @histodon The camera lenses of the 19th century were very slow, so subjects had to stay absolutely still for a minute or so. Any motion would cause blurring, so there were posing stands to help the subjects remain still: https://www.vintag.es/2020/06/posing-stands.html?m=1
Related, the reason why urban streets look empty in 19th century photos is because all the motion of passers-by was faster than the camera lens so wasn’t caught on the plates.
@wennefer @eharlitzkern @KathleenFuller @histodons @histodon quibble - the lenses weren't the problem so much as the film or plate. The Brownie etc. were made possible by chemical developments.
@vance_maverick @eharlitzkern @KathleenFuller @histodons @histodon Yes, my mistake. In addition to the slow emulsions on the plates, studio photographers didn’t have the lighting we have today. So important to be still.
@wennefer @eharlitzkern @KathleenFuller @histodons @histodon concur -- the long exposure times, whatever caused them, made 19C photography look the way it does (not just empty streets but blurry water, etc.)
@eharlitzkern @histodons @histodon But I do agree that AI training seems to have been too-narrowly-focused on white Americans.
@eharlitzkern @histodons @histodon - but the very act of taking a selfie by these groups is ahistorical. Is smiling really significant in this fantasy scenario? Maybe if Native warriors HAD iPhones and took selfies, maybe they would smile.
Out of all the things in the world to be concerned about, this ranks number one billion.
@eharlitzkern @histodons @histodon wow that is an excellent observation. As an Austrian and American, I've often felt how different things like smiling are used between the two. Those images in the blog post are definitely full on #American-style toothy grins. I feel like it protects Austria a bit because it makes #AI generated media feel more foreign, similar to computer generated voices. German text-to-speech never sounds Austrian, from what I've heard. I'll bet the Swiss feel the same.
@eharlitzkern @histodons @histodon all of these people also have impossibly good teeth.
