Hi there,
I am from Birmingham. Are you looking for special attraction like places where you don't mind driving a few minutes out of the way to see or do you mean just stopping for a few minutes and then getting right back on the interstate.
If it is the latter then I would recommend stopping at the rest areas along the way.
Depending on the time of day you pass through Birmingham it can be very hard to get on and off the interstate and there is quite a bit of road construction in the area that will last for next few years.
PLEASE n=make a not on your map to be extra cautions when passing through the area near the cross-over interchange of I-20/I-59 and I-65. This is locally known as "malfunction junction" and there are accidents almost daily. Please watch the people around you in this area, there is very limited time for people merging to get all the way over to the area they need.
There are a few areas downtown that are good to visit, some public parks that are great for walking around in that are free. If this is the type of thing you are looking for let me know and I will get you the names of some and an address you can plug into your GPS.