#trending: Blonde S'porean Barbie? Buzzfeed's list of AI-generated Barbies in 195 countries slammed for cultural inaccuracies
SINGAPORE — Is this what you imagined a Singapore Barbie would look like?

Buzzfeed's AI-generated image of Barbie representing Singapore.
- American entertainment company Buzzfeed’s images of Al-generated Barbies have received strong backlash for cultural inaccuracies, including featuring blonde Barbies for Asian countries
- The controversial list consisted of images of Barbie in 195 countries, generated by the artificial intelligence program Midjourney
- Netizens highlighted the flaws of the Barbies, including inaccurate portrayals of cultural clothing and whitewashing
SINGAPORE — Is this what you imagined a Singapore Barbie would look like?

American entertainment company Buzzfeed has been slammed for its list of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of the fashion doll and fictional character from countries all over the world.
Their article, titled “What AI Thinks Barbie Would Look Like Around the World,” was published on July 6 and has since been removed after receiving social media backlash.
The list included images that depicted Barbie in 195 countries, all of which were created by the generative AI program Midjourney.
Seemingly aware of the biases and stereotypes present in AI models, Buzzfeed reportedly disclaimed that the images should not be seen as accurate or comprehensive depictions of human experiences.
Despite this, netizens were quick to call out the images for their inaccurate depictions of cultural outfits and the blatant whitewashing of certain races.
Netizens were especially vocal on Twitter, with one thread posted on July 9 garnering at least 13,700 views and 185 likes as of Friday (July 21).
“Literally all the East Asian ones are just white girls in yellowface,” one Twitter user said.
An Instagram user wrote: “Why is Singapore Barbie white?”
Another Twitter user pointed out how the Barbie supposedly representing Vietnam was not wearing Vietnamese traditional clothing.
“The collar is in a reversed position as well, symbolising death,” the user said, referring to the outfit the Vietnam Barbie was wearing in the image.
“Not only did you offend Vietnamese cultures, you also offended East Asian culture as a whole.”

The Filipino Barbie had its fair share of backlash as well, with several netizens highlighting her blonde hair and other inaccurate features.
“Misspelled my country’s name and gave us this blonde Barbie? Hell no, she ain't a Filipina,” said one Twitter user.
Another user said: “The Philippines Barbie doesn't even look Filipino. She's not wearing anything to say she's from the Philippines. If I hadn't read the little tag, I wouldn't know what country she was supposed to represent.”

Others questioned why a few Middle Eastern Barbies were portrayed wearing a ghutra or keffiyeh, a traditional headdress for men.
“Why is the Kuwait Barbie wearing a male headdress?” one Twitter user wrote.
Another user said: “Qatar Barbie is also in a keffiyeh. The AI is having problems with this.”


Many also blasted Buzzfeed for depicting South Sudanese Barbie with a gun.
“I hope AI had its moment and is on it’s way out. I can’t believe that someone at Buzzfeed did not find a problem with South Sudanese Barbie having a gun,” one Twitter user said.
Another user wrote: “Why does South Sudan Barbie have a whole Glock?”

CULTURAL BIAS IN AI
This was not the first time AI had gotten in trouble for perpetuating cultural biases.
In 2020, netizens discovered that Twitter's image-cropping tool consistently focused on white faces over black ones.
The issue was first highlighted when PhD student Colin Madland, who was white, posted an image of himself and a black colleague after which Twitter automatically cropped the image to only show Mr Madland.
The algorithm of the AI had failed to recognise his colleague’s face.
Twitter subsequently apologised for the “racist” image-cropping algorithm and said it had tested the tool for bias before using it, according to The Guardian.