Five Hongkongers share their hopes for the city one century from now. Here is what A.I. imagined for them.
At the snap of a finger, the present is the past. Momentary perceptions fade into memory. The future, at its essence, is a forever imagination. Hong Kong, similar to time, is transient in nature. Rush hour sets the pace of the day, the peeling paint on buildings will eventually be replaced with reflecting glass facades. This week, you may find your local bakery closed down. In the next, a media frenzy could surround the removal of another neon sign. Biting your tongue, you wish you had taken just one more photo.
Admittedly, we have no idea what the future truly holds. Despite this uncertainty, we still dare to dream.
Think about it for a Moment
How do you feel about the future?
What you hope Hong Kong will look like a century from now?
I asked five people with different occupations in Hong Kong to reflect on these very questions.
Bringing Visions of the Future to Life
To shed light on my sources perspectives of the future, I turned to Midjouney, an A.I. software that transforms text prompts into detailed images. Key words were extracted from interviewees’ responses and fed through a machine learning algorithm. In less than a minute, five pictures of a future Hong Kong were generated. The image deemed most representative of each participants’ view is displayed here.
In reality, the process of using Midjourney consisted of a lot of trial-and-error. Over 150 sets of A.I. generated images were produced. Beyond fuzzy details and odd depictions of fish flying in the sky, the A.I. also showed moments of bias and assumption. For example, words such as ‘multiculturalism’ favoured one ethnicity over another. ‘Futuristic’ leaned towards dystopian unless instructed otherwise.
Explore some of the 150 iterations of A.I. images made on Midjourney
While there is little transparency on where Midjourney gathers its visual references and how it stitches them together, I can only reflect on what these interpretations, as with what interviewees shared with me, reveal about present ideas on space, life and community. In a similar fashion, these images, while inspired by the thoughts of others, ultimately also contain a sliver of my own views as I modified text prompts to evade the A.I.’s misgivings and selected the final images.
What A.I. Imagined
I hope to see a future Hong Kong that is like a metaverse, more futuristic. I hope it will also have a more multicultural community where people feel free to exchange new ideas.
I hope to see a future Hong Kong with more green spaces that can foster more social cohesion, such as in-field pocket parks. There are a lot of transient spaces, but not much that are open to the public where you can just slow down and enjoy.
I hope to see a future Hong Kong with a transformed education system that promotes non-traditional thought. Children will be able to explore and dream about what is possible in the creative industry rather than being pressured into career paths like law or medicine.
I hope to see Hong Kong still thriving as an international business hub. Maybe there will be flying cars by then, who knows?
I hope to see a future Hong Kong with 100% renewable energy. Offshore wind power will be a reality, at least 30% of our oceans will be protected. Companies will be prioritising the planet over profit.
What does your future look like?
You too, dear reader, may find yourself imagining a very different future from what is represented here. So, what figment of the future do you see? What values are you carrying with you into tomorrow? What stories do you hope are told?
