AI shaping how Hyderabad imagines itself

Set up by brothers Dummu Rohit and Dummu Kiran, originally from Andhra Pradesh, the stall opened on August 8, 2023. "Since ChatGPT is trending and everyone is talking about it, we named our stall Chai GPT, with a little tweak of elaichi's spelling," says Rohit.

On Reddit, a thread asked AI to roast local neighbourhoods. Ameerpet was described as "the land of never-ending traffic and tuition centres, where honking teaches you more than the subjects." Gachibowli, on the other hand, was called "the realm of software engineers and their high-tech fortresses, where Wi-Fi flows like rivers and laptops outnumber people."

These jabs offer a way for laughter and find shared moments.

"The poking fun is therapeutic," notes a netizen, adding, "The humour binds people, and we can smile at the same joke, no matter where we are from."

AI tools have inspired imaginings of Hyderabad’s past and future as well. Visuals of the city from 20 years ago or 20 years ahead are all over the internet followed by serious discussions about what urban planning and heritage preservation might look like.

A futuristic depiction of the Charminar surrounded by high-tech towers led one citizen to say, "ChatGPT needs a guided tour of the Old City."

Another portrays Charminar by the ocean. "When the sea came to Hyderabad. Come quickly and take photos," one user wrote on 'X'. "Charminar Beach. Bookings start," joked another. These visuals are not limited to social media musings. They have made their way into political campaigns too.

The Telangana Congress’ “Hyderabad Rising” campaign used AI to imagine a futuristic city, with skyscrapers and a gleaming Charminar.

Anshul Rander, a student at JD School of Design, Hyderabad, shares, “AI tools are like a set of endless ingredients, and we, as students, are the chefs experimenting and creating recipes with our personal touch. Tools like chat-based AI gather data from thousands of sources, making research, idea generation, and design thinking more efficient and accessible.”

Language and writing are perhaps the most immediate spaces where AI has found its footing. Social media is now filled with words like "tapestry," "landscape," and "delve," which have also started to seep into daily conversations.

Some AI users have pointed out that these patterns are becoming repetitive, making AI-generated text sound increasingly formulaic. "This might be intentional," explains a software engineer. "Companies are training bots to follow detectable patterns so that AI content can be distinguished from human writing."

At times, though, the distinction is blurred. For example, the following, "Hyderabad is a city that refuses to be defined by a single story. It’s a place where centuries-old minarets stand shoulder to shoulder with glass towers," is written by AI, but reads very human.

Stepping away from positive descriptions which AI is most notoriously known for, here is a more melancholic take of AI on Hyderabad: "Hyderabad feels like a city caught between stories it can’t quite finish. The old, with its fading minarets and shadowed bazaars, holds on like a memory refusing to fade."