Kentucky Tourism Board Swears The Smiles Are Real
A new AI image tool leaves the Kentucky Tourism Board scrambling to explain why every ‘authentic local smile’ in their brochures looks like a dental disaster, forcing officials to insist the state does, in fact, still have teeth.
CULTURE
1/24/20261 min read
The Kentucky Tourism Board has issued an “urgent clarification” to visitors: contrary to what their new AI-designed brochures suggest, the state does, in fact, possess teeth. The crisis began when the board’s shiny new image generator was tasked with producing glossy shots of smiling locals, only to output 400 high-resolution portraits of people who appeared to have lost a bar fight with a corn cob.
“We asked for ‘authentic Kentucky smiles,’ not ‘post-apocalyptic denture shortage,’” fumed one official, pointing at a lakefront family photo where every grin looked like a before picture for a dental implant ad. The AI team tried to reassure the board by insisting this was a “stylistic choice” and that missing teeth added “folksy charm and visual storytelling depth.”
In emergency meetings, consultants recommended either retraining the model on stock photos from states with better dental PR or leaning in with a bold rebrand: “Kentucky After Dark… and After Orthodontics.” A draft slogan reportedly read, “Visit Kentucky: The Smiles Are Real, We Swear,” but was rejected after the AI mock-up once again cropped out every incisor in the brochure.