About our artwork.

Every destination on Painted Circle has its own illustration. We make them with AI, and we want to be open about how and why.

Illustration of Appalachian Mountains — Appalachian Mountains

Illustration of Great Smoky Mountains — Great Smoky Mountains

Illustration of North Carolina — North Carolina

Illustration of Sierra Nevada — Sierra Nevada

Illustration of Thimphu District — Thimphu District

Illustration of Livingstone — Livingstone

Illustration of Antananarivo — Antananarivo

Illustration of Johannesburg — Johannesburg

Illustration of Tunis Governorate — Tunis Governorate

Drawn so you can picture yourself there.

Each picture shows a place the way a traveler could really see it: from the trail, the deck of a ferry, the bow of a boat, the end of a market lane. And each one has something that invites you onward: a path, a bend in the river, an open gateway. We use AI to help generate the images that can motivate you to get out and explore the real world, not to replace it.

How they’re made.

Claude, an AI from Anthropic, writes a description of a scene that captures the place. An image model from OpenAI paints it in our house style. Every picture then goes through an automatic check before it appears. There’s no text or writing, no flags or borders, no recognizable faces, and no religious symbols used as decoration. For places whose borders or names are disputed, we show nature only.

An illustration, not a photograph.

These are artistic impressions that we intentionally design to look like illustrations, not the real world. The real place will look different, and that’s the point of getting out and exploring our beautiful world and fascinating people.

Every report is read by a person.

If a picture is inaccurate, insensitive or just looks broken, tell us, and if needed we will fix or replace the picture.

See something wrong?

Use the “Learn about our AI artwork” link under any picture to report it.