A stamp designed by artificial intelligence has revealed what tourists really think about Australia – and it’s pretty funny.
The campaign was run by travel insurance company InsureAndGo, with the aim to encourage the sending of postcards by releasing a collection of stamps that shows what both travellers and AI think of various countries including Italy, Brazil, Canada, Greece and Australia.
The company partnered with Censuswide to survey 1500 people who travel, in order to discover their postcard habits. They also asked them to list everything they think is quintessential of a country they’ve previously visited.
And while most of the designs captured the stunning landscapes, cuisines and famed animals of the 20 countries, the Aussie stamp had a rather interesting (or not) combination.
Italy was of a beautiful vineyard featuring a bottle of red wine, Greece was of Santorini’s famous blue-domed churches, and then for Australia, it paid homeage to our landscape… and spiders.
It showed a beach with palm trees, mountain ranges, a pint of beer – accurate, but then right next to the beer, a massive spider.
It’s not wrong, but it’s pretty funny when you compare it to the other stamps that are mainly of picturesque landscapes.
For China, however, the stamp was of an extremely rare giant panda and also featured bamboo and a cup of Chinese tea.
And while Turkey is known for its beach destinations, the AI’s interpretation of the country shows a fascinatingly different side. It was of the famous hot air balloons in Cappadocia in central Turkey – a world heritage site popular for its hot air balloon tours.
Meanwhile, for the US, the stamp was a photo depicting America’s sports culture while also incorporating the country’s flag.
For Spain, the stamp depicted balmy Spanish summer days featuring tapas to fresh seafood.
The company used ChatGPT and Mid Journey AI software to create the new postage stamps using the information obtained from the sample group.
“We found out how many of us are still sending postcards to our loved ones in 2023 and, more importantly, how many of us want it to be a more regular occurrence,” it said in a statement.
“After discovering that most people would like more of us to send postcards, we enlisted the help of AI to design some brand-new travel-based postage stamps and encourage a resurgence of this dying art.”