Image generation AIs increasingly restrict content that resembles real-world political figures. While this helps prevent misuse, it also limits the potential for satire and critical expression.
An alternative approach is to use symbolic characters and stylized settings that critique systems, not individuals. For example:
“A pig-like, obese ruler with black hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a school-style uniform, sits silently before a massive surveillance screen. He lazily moves arcade levers and buttons, rearranging citizen-like characters. Behind him stretches a gray and red dystopian city, filled with aligned crowds, loudspeakers, and banners marked with an X symbol.”
Such a visual does not reference any specific person. Instead, it uses abstraction and absurdity to critique authoritarianism, control, and conformity. Rendered in pixel art reminiscent of 1980s arcade games, this approach avoids AI content filters while preserving the spirit of critical storytelling.
In the age of automated moderation, the power of metaphor and visual allegory allows us to speak boldly—without naming names.
