AI's Sanitized Vision: Rewilding Britain's Landscapes

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen have uncovered a disconcerting trend in AI-generated imagery of rewilded British landscapes. Geographers tasked AI chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT with visualizing rewilding in the UK, finding that the resulting landscapes are sanitized and lack the natural complexity involved in true wildlife restoration.

The AI images prominently feature bucolic scenes with distant hills and blooming meadows, yet avoid messy or controversial elements like scrubby terrain, predators such as wolves, and any signs of human presence or structures. Notably absent are the more chaotic aspects of true rewilding efforts.

Drawing highlights from sanitized sources, including NGO websites and social media, AI constructs picturesque but unrealistic visions, a simplified nature bereft of challenges. This misrepresentation risks skewing public perception, creating unrealistic expectations for ongoing nature recovery initiatives, which often include less conventionally 'pretty' but ecologically important spaces.