Take a tour of Portland through the eyes of AI

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You’ve probably heard of Siri, or even received some sass from Alexa, but allow us to introduce Craiyon. The artificial intelligence (AI) art project sketches 50,000+ images a day by taking users’ text input, scouring the internet for millions of related photos, while essentially teaching itself how to draw.

It’s probably only a matter of time until androids are actually showing us around Portland, but until then, join us on a tour of the city through this AI’s… eyes.

Illustrations made by artificial intelligence

We have to wonder, what movie did it watch? | Photos via Craiyon

Portland International Airport

You have to start somewhere, and it seems our digital friend arrived on a direct flight from cyberspace — and got the obligatory carpet pic (although that pattern is looking a little off).

Illustrations made by artificial intelligence

Ah, the smell of blooms and machine oil | Photos via Craiyon

International Rose Test Garden

Who says a nose is required to enjoy the iconic floral beds? Let’s just hope the scary figure on the right is a friend... beep twice if you’re okay, little robot.

Abstract images of donuts and beer

That’s a meal Homer Simpson could get behind. | Photos via Craiyon

Donuts and beer

After all that exploring, it looks like our CPU (computer pal unit) wanted a byte to eat — and turned toward two of Portland’s quintessential treats. If you squint your eyes, they do kind of look like 1s and 0s.

Abstract images of weird zoo animals.

The middle beasty looks pettable. | Photos via Craiyon

Oregon Zoo

Either the keepers recently introduced a new endangered species, or something is very, very wrong in the black bear enclosure.

Abstract images of Mount Hood

You can’t deny, it’s got a good eye for landscapes. | Photos via Craiyon

Mount Hood

Ahhh such beauty — cannot compute.

Abstract images of Portland's Pittock Mansion

It gets an A- on these. | Photos via Craiyon

Pittock Mansion

Leave it to software to make a difficult profession like architecture look easy.

What other Portland sights would you want Craiyon to illustrate? Test it out for yourself and send us the most remarkable creations.

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