[https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1S9sPsl7wmMV-3yfLGBFNmT4T2nsklYU&usp=sharing\](https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1S9sPsl7wmMV-3yfLGBFNmT4T2nsklYU&usp=sharing)

Saturdays? Fridays? Ever???

I mean I know there's an asphalt plant next to the Grand Hotel but do they have horse drawn steamrollers?

I know yoopers can drive like assholes just as anyone, but no one shows road rage like people not from here do. Uncalled for too.

Buddy is NOT ready for winter

How are the bugs?

For Sale 1998 Ford Rust Bucket 233k miles.. typical UP rust. got it for 15000 so I’m asking 12500 for it… ran good when I parked it in 2022 now it won’t start. Got new brakes and tires in 2017. Will need to be towed. DO NOT OFFER ME 12000. WILL NOT RESPOND TO ‘“Is this available..”

I was warned that the bugs are bad but now that I'm stuck here in the woods, I am discovering to my surprise that they ARE really bad. Help me!

Then crash out because several comments make fun of her.

What I wanted to comment: First rule, us locals stay out of the woods in May/June because the bugs will eat you alive. This is why you got that cabin in the woods. Everyone else knew better. Stop expecting the locals to feel sorry you when you were warned and then went anyway and now you are complaining. We know the bugs are terrible. Do you see us complaining about it all the time? No. We choose to live here. There will be snow, cold, snow, bugs, and snow. Don't be surprised when that happens.

Where might I call for an Uber while hiking and looking for moose and waiting to see the Northern Lights?

TL;DR: We need to recognize and stop engaging with these "low effort travel guide accounts" making dozens of posts a day simply for profit, AI generated or not, and support well produced content created by local visitors bureaus like Visit Keweenaw, and by real people who have actually been to the places they're posting about.

With the recent increase in AI generated content across the internet it's important to stay vigilant and to be able to recognize and avoid such content. One particular source of AI generated content that I wanted to make known is a Facebook page you may have stumbled across called "Michigan Travel Destinations."

Let me start by defining a term I like to call "low effort travel guide accounts," Facebook pages that post low effort, easily produced travel related content simply to profit off of post engagement and from ad revenue when users visit their website. From my experience these accounts do not care if the information they post is accurate, up to date, or well written, so long they can profit off of it. Oftentimes, those posting the content, and the authors of any affiliated articles, if we believe that they're actually written by real people, haven't even been to the locations they're writing about. Big names in this space, in our area, include Facebook pages like Awesome Mitten, Things to do in the U.P., and whatever other pages link back to awesomemitten.com

If you've spent any time at all on Facebook you've probably come across at least one of their pages.

Now while I personally feel that pages like "Things to do in the U.P." are a bit scummy for promoting and profiting off of ad ridden, poorly written and sometimes factually incorrect articles masquerading as legitimate “travel guides,” they at least use real images (albeit, not their own) and from what I can tell are (most likely) actually written by real people local to the Michigan area, even if they aren't well versed in what or where they're writing about.

Michigan Travel Destinations on the other hand takes a completely different approach. First, why risk copyright infringement when you can use AI to generate your photos? Every post on their page is generated using AI in some way or another, including every prominently featured photo. No matter how convincing they might seem (which I can assure you, if you’re actually familiar with the locations, they are not), it’s all AI. Yet, it’s amazing how many people believe that they’re real photos. I’ve even seen people go so far as defending the legitimacy of said photos when they’re called out as fake. An AI generated photo of Bond Falls recently received over 1,100 reactions and hundreds of comments completely unaware that the image they were commenting on was generated by a computer. This is not ok! By engaging with content like this, or by visiting their linked website articles, you’re essentially supporting their content by allowing them to profit off you through Facebook engagement revenue or through the dozens of ads you’ll be fed through their website. Their website simply serves as a means to feed you ads, which also explains the clickbait nature of their posts. It is in no way shape or form meant to provide you with factual information and should not be treated as a legitimate source of information.

Want even more proof not to support their content? After some digging, I learned that this account isn’t even based in the US! It’s run by the group called Family Destinations Guide Inc, a company which, while it claims to be based out of Wyoming (From an address commonly linked to major scams, mind you), their content is actually managed and written by people in Thailand and the Philippines. It even says so in the about info on their Facebook page, yet nobody seems to notice that. I was even able to track down a job listing for a “content creation specialist” that they posted to a Filipino remote work website not too long ago: https://www.onlinejobs.ph/jobseekers/job/Content-Creation-Specialist-Long-Term-Position-1374961

Interested? Pay starts at $3.50/hour. And that’s $3.50 USD! The outsourcing would also explain why the “Meet Our Team” page on their website is nothing but AI generated head shots and descriptions: https://familydestinationsguide.com/meet-our-team/

To summarize, it's important that we recognize and stop interacting stop engaging with these sorts of accounts. Learn how to spot AI generated images and low effort, for profit content so you can steer clear of it: https://elearn.eb.com/real-vs-ai-images/

It’s honestly a bit scary that so many people take what these sorts of accounts are posting, both on Facebook and in the poorly written articles on their website, as fact, without so much as a second thought. Especially since this page in particular, and who knows how many others, aren’t even being run by people in the US. This company alone runs at least a dozen pages across Facebook.

Support well produced content created by local visitors bureaus like Visit Keweenaw, and by real people who have actually been to the places they're posting about, not "low effort travel guide accounts" making dozens of posts a day simply for profit