People Online Are Debating Why AI’s Latin American Barbies Are Mostly White

Have you ever thought about what you would look like in Barbie form? Well, there’s apparently a Barbie AI selfie generator if you want to travel to Barbieland and chill in the (water-less!) pool. However, not all AI is nearly that cool. In fact, an AI generator just created a Barbie for every country in the world… and some are calling it out for being oh-so-white.

In a since-deleted article, Buzzfeed put AI to the test to think up how Barbie would look in different countries. Sounds interesting enough, right?

The outlet had already done a similar AI-based exercise with Barbie Dreamhouses, giving us an orange-pink Colombian mansion with a wrap-around pool, a vintage-y tropical oasis in Honduras, and a mountain-side oasis in Peru.

However, the AI generator making actual Barbies from every country had very different results.

For one, the Barbies from El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and more are all white women. While these traits are, of course, present in many Latino countries, the question is — does AI have a preference for them?

Also, just one more question: where is Puerto Rico in any of these lists?

The AI-Generated Latin American Barbies have some blaming “pinche telenovelas”

One look at the 194-category AI-generated Barbie list shows two things: artificial intelligence isn’t as intelligent as some people think it is (saludos to three-arm Cuban Barbie!), and it also seems to have a preference for whiteness.

As one Twitter user put it after looking at the list, “AI really said ‘Mejorar la raza’ for [Latin America]. Not a single Black, Indigenous, or Afro-Indigenos Barbie to be found.” They then attached the blonde, blue-eyed Panamanian and Mexican Barbies for reference.

Many focused on Mexico’s AI Barbie, with one Twitter user asking, “Why is Mexican Barbie blonde with colored eyes?? Most Mexicans and indigenous people do not look like that.”

Meanwhile, others took offense at Nicaragua’s AI Barbie, questioning, “Who is this white girl?”

Yet another person is up in arms about Mexico’s Barbie wrote, “Why is Mexican Barbie blonde? Pinche telenovelas.” And well… she has a point there.

Noting that AI actually works by learning from human data and pulling information that we put out in the world, is artificial intelligence really to blame? Or is it just a reflection of the blatant racism and colorism largely present in Latin American media?

As that Twitter “pinche telenovela” comment makes clear, AI may have just pulled from the largely white casting in Mexican telenovelas when creating Mexico’s Barbie. While some outlets have even spoken out about the “whiteness epidemic” in the country’s advertising, it is a clear issue throughout Latin America.

If the media doesn’t reflect a country’s racial makeup, then what can we expect from AI?

While people continue to question the AI Barbie generator, others hope they “help folks reflect”

Many people continue to call the AI Barbie generator a “war crime,” with others saying they are “personally offended.”

One Twitter user used Chile as an example, asking, “Why does AI Chilean Barbie have a blonde wig?” Honestly… what is going on there?

Others simply noted that AI is just not where it should be yet. One wrote, “AI doesn’t have a single clue how Barbie doll looks like.”

Another pointed out how three-armed AI Italy Barbie may have stolen Mexico’s arm for her outfit:

And while others say that AI generator “must’ve been tired” that day, some are using the opportunity to “reflect” on whiteness in Latino media.

As one person put it, comments on the Barbies “are ignoring how whiteness is upheld in these settler states and countries.”

Another added, “[AI generators] pull from source material found online. Definitely those white washed telenovelas.”

Of course, some point out that “Latino is not just a skin or hair color,” and is comprised of many different skin tones, hair and eye color types. However, as another person replied, “I know I’m Latina 😭 but I mean that we are more diverse than that.”

Some AI Latina Barbies that did show more diversity include Dominican Republic, which seems to have been much-applauded online. As one person put it, “She’s eating.”

No matter what you think of the AI Barbies, and the generator’s possible preference for whiteness, some believe the results may have to do with the prompt.

One Twitter user theorized, “Including ‘Barbie’ in the prompt is going to have a bias towards blonde hair.”

Still, while Cuban Barbie isn’t bad, she has three arms… and that’s enough AI for today.