AI generates portraits of ancient rulers, netizens unhappy
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AI-generated text and images are going viral on social media and one such artist tried to create a resemblance of ancient Indian rulers. He reimagined how rulers of various dynasties of the world might have looked using artificial intelligence.
The Twitter thread had 21 emperors such as Bindusara of the Mauryan Empire, Prithviraj Chauhan of the Chauhan dynasty, Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, Chhatrapati Shivaji of the Bhonsle Maratha clan, Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire, Shah Jahan of the Mughal Empire, and Sikandar Lodi of Lodi Dynasty.
While the lifelike appearance was appreciated, many pointed out that Mughal emperors were of mixed ancestry but were solely shown as having mongoloid features.
The first image showed Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty, in a dusky complexion with long black hair, and wearing gold ornaments. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj looked most like his paintings and portraits. Babar, Humayun, and Akbar looked similar with facial features reminiscent of their Mongolian origins.
Netizens criticised that there was rarely any variation in their complexion even though they all had different geographic origins. Most had sharp noses and only had minor differences. On the other hand, many appreciated the mongoloid features of Mughal rulers as opposed to the common representation of their Indian-looking depictions.