AI reveals what Swiss cantons would look like as superheroes
By Jan de Boer
Ever wondered what your local Swiss canton would look like as a superhero? Well, we are telling you anyway! To find the alpine nation's additions to the DC and Marvel extended universe, a user on Reddit has used artificial intelligence to simulate what each region of Switzerland would look like as a comic book hero or heroine.
Swiss cantons personified by artificial intelligence
As reported by Watson, the Reddit user u/Bread_Car used the artificial intelligence programme Midjourney to create images of what some Swiss cantons would look like if they were a superhero. In recent years, programmes like Dall-E Dreambooth and OpenAI have gained the ability to create paintings, drawings and semi-passable short stories, all from simple prompts given by the user.
In many of the generated images, Bread_Car found that the AI was able to find and use stereotypes and symbols from each canton. For example, Canton Vaud, famous for producing some of the best Swiss wine, is depicted holding a wine bottle, while Canton Zurich is portrayed as a busy entrepreneur and Uri is shown as a minotaur - an illusion to their flag. Geneva and Jura are even depicted with several clocks, in a nod to each canton’s prowess in watchmaking.
Swiss canton superheroes are highly Americanised, says creator
The AI was also clever enough to recognise popular locations, with Canton Bern standing in front of a quasi-Swiss parliament and Lucerne standing on a bridge - not the famous Kapellbrücke, but close enough to assume that the AI knew that the city was famous for a bridge.
However, not all was smooth sailing: Bread_Car noted that all the images resemble “American comics”, mainly because of the sheer number of Mavel-style movies in circulation on the internet. “I had a lot of options resembling Iron Man,” the user admitted.
Want to see what they look like? Check them out below!
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Jan studied History at the University of York and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Sheffield. Though born in York, Jan has lived most of his life in Zurich and has worked as a journalist, writer and editor since 2016.
While he has plunged head-first back into life in Switzerland since returning to the country in 2020, he still enjoys a taste of home at pub quizzes and karaoke nights.Read more