The Pilot and the Rio Poster AI Fiasco
A Customer Tale: Episode 1 – The Pilot and the Rio Poster AI Fiasco
Paul (name changed for privacy), a commercial pilot with a love for travel, was always on the lookout for new ways to bring his favorite destinations into his home. After all, he’d flown over the world’s most famous cities countless times. So, when he stumbled upon a vibrant travel poster of Rio de Janeiro on a popular marketplace, he couldn’t resist. It looked bright, colorful, and full of life—just like the city itself.
When the poster arrived, Paul eagerly unwrapped it and hung it in his living room. For the first few days, everything seemed perfect. The iconic Sugarloaf Mountain loomed in the background, and the city stretched out below in a colorful, bustling sprawl. But then, his friends came over for a dinner party. That’s when things started to unravel.
“Is it just me, or is the Corcovado Mountain… a bit too close to Sugarloaf?” his friend asked casually. Paul looked again, and sure enough, Christ the Redeemer, usually perched high on its own hill, seemed oddly squished between two other peaks, as if someone had run out of space on the canvas. “I mean, I’m no expert,” his friend continued, “but last time I checked, those two were miles apart.”
They all laughed it off, but then his friend noticed something else. “Wait, are those… boats above the cable cars?” Indeed, there were tiny sailboats floating awkwardly in the sky, suspended just over the famous cable cars heading up to Sugarloaf. Paul had been so focused on the overall image that he hadn’t even noticed the maritime mix-up.
As the evening went on, the “art critic” in each of his guests emerged. One pointed out the buildings in the foreground: modern skyscrapers that didn’t quite fit the typical Rio skyline, like something more suited to Dubai than Brazil. “When did they build those?” someone joked.
But the pièce de résistance came when his friend noticed the beach. “I love how they added surfers on Copacabana,” he said, barely containing his laughter. Now, Rio is known for many things, but surfing on Copacabana? Not exactly.
That’s when Paul realized he had bought a poster that was, without a doubt, generated by AI. There was no way someone who had actually seen Rio could have made these mistakes. He took the poster down, laughing at how the details had slipped past him.
Eager to find something more authentic, Paul stumbled upon MyRetroposter and the work of Alecse, a renowned poster artist. Two posters immediately caught his attention. The first was a limited edition, one of 300 prints, showing a beautifully detailed view of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro. It was everything the previous poster wasn’t—subtle, nostalgic, and true to the city he knew. But then there was Rio Sunset, a collector’s edition designed by Alecse, limited to just 20 copies, complete with a certificate of authenticity. The vibrant sunset colors and the careful rendering of the coastline reminded Paul of those moments during his approaches to Rio, the warm glow of the sun casting long shadows over the bay.
After some hesitation between the two, the collector in him couldn’t resist the rarity of Rio Sunset. Knowing that he was one of only 20 people who would own this masterpiece created by Alecse, he made his decision. The poster now hangs proudly in his living room, bringing back vivid memories of those real, golden sunsets he witnessed from the cockpit.
As for the AI poster? It’s been relegated to a drawer, a funny reminder of his brief brush with technology gone wrong.
