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Culture

The Twitter Bot that (Dis)cribes Cities

L.A. looks like "a Cactus." Is that plain wrong? Or is our hubris keeping us from recognizing the profound meaning behind these captions?
A screenshot of City Describer, a Twitter bot that runs off Microsoft's "custom vision" AI technology.
A screenshot of City Describer, a Twitter bot that runs off Microsoft's "custom vision" AI technology.Geoff Boeing/City Describer

Los Angeles. City of Angels. La La Land. Where dreams of fame materialize and evaporate like heat mirages on hot asphalt. This city has served as the muse of surrealist directors, retro-glam pop divas, and visionary rappers. To some, its sprawling sepia landscape evokes yearning and melancholia; for others it is marked by grit and resilience.

Or, you know, it could also be described thusly: