  Text-To-Image (TTI) models, such as DALL-E and StableDiffusion, have
demonstrated remarkable prompt-based image generation capabilities.
Multilingual encoders may have a substantial impact on the cultural agency of
these models, as language is a conduit of culture. In this study, we explore
the cultural perception embedded in TTI models by characterizing culture across
three hierarchical tiers: cultural dimensions, cultural domains, and cultural
concepts. Based on this ontology, we derive prompt templates to unlock the
cultural knowledge in TTI models, and propose a comprehensive suite of
evaluation techniques, including intrinsic evaluations using the CLIP space,
extrinsic evaluations with a Visual-Question-Answer (VQA) model and human
assessments, to evaluate the cultural content of TTI-generated images. To
bolster our research, we introduce the CulText2I dataset, derived from four
diverse TTI models and spanning ten languages. Our experiments provide insights
regarding Do, What, Which and How research questions about the nature of
cultural encoding in TTI models, paving the way for cross-cultural applications
of these models.
