They were everywhere! I kept seeing more and more AI-generated, “fake” Disney movie posters in Instagram. Every time I scrolled down I saw another adorable pet dachshund “starring” in an upcoming movie, or appearing in some exciting travel location—all shown in Pixar-animated movie drawing style.

I had to figure it out tout de suite! The implications of AI-generated images for future graphic design and online imagery are huge.

Sure, it’s fun. They’re cute. But what does any of this have to do with marketing your business, or building a website?

To grow your business, you have to increase your visibility! The more visibility you have, the likelier you are to pull prospects into the marketing funnel and gain additional clients. Thus, great images are front and center to gain that visibility and disrupt doom scrolling.

In recent years, we’ve seen enormous changes in the image/video industry. Professional photographers have become increasingly squeezed out as the business model has shifted dramatically. Business owners often can’t afford to generate all their own high-quality photos and videos for websites and social media. So they turned to stock photo/video providers, which have in turn shifted to subscription plans to meet the increasing demand for high volume imagery. And now consumers become suspicious when they spot over-used stock imagery by businesses.

Why should you consider using AI-generated images? The possibilities are endless, and are far from “stock.” But the potential for abuse is high. You don’t want to use an AI-image while simultaneously claiming it’s a pro photographer’s work. Being transparent with prospects is important to gain their trust. Here are few reasons to consider using generative AI imagery:

• The image you envision using can’t be taken here physically. (Perhaps you want to put a beach scene on top of Mt. Everest?)
• Your products are in prototyping, but you need a simulation of them to photograph and begin building interest in them.
• Cost of production is prohibitive. (That enormous crowd of extras clamoring at you on the red carpet has an expensive price tag to pay for their time.)
• You’d like to capture that “Barbie the Movie” color scheme look.
• Van Gogh is unavailable but you’d love to use the style of his paintings to set the mood on your website.

How do AI-generated images fit into your business model? Does it best meet budgetary constraints? Is it the best way to match your brand styling? Does it give you the most creative control?

It doesn’t matter if the image has a dachshund or your own face in it: what imagery will grab your prospects’ attention?

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard from clients that they wish they’d had more dynamic images for their project. Maybe the image they have is too small, cropped too tightly or oriented incorrectly. Maybe it has the wrong background, or it’s just plain boring. What can they do?

That’s where AI-generated imagery may play a role in your business. And the evidence is there this year in the AI releases and clamor for these tools. Even the Collins Dictionary has chosen “AI” — artificial intelligence — as its word of the year. Recently, this AI technology has made another leap that may aid your business (not to mention provide some fun): DALL·E 3, the AI software that generates images “out of thin air,” is now available for free via Bing or ChatGPT.

What DALL·E 3 images can you create? Where can you use them? How do you make them? Is it legal?

First, AI-generated images are never a substitute for great, professional photography. Whenever possible, please hire a photographer for your business’ team headshots, for product and service imagery, and to obtain the most unique visual representations of your offerings.

Second, use AI to enhance the pro photographer’s images in ways they can’t accomplish. (More on this below.)

DALL·E 3 can create images of whatever you can imagine. BUT, the software creators have baked in safety rules and limitations. Reportedly, it will not generate images of violence, abuse, other gratuitous, negative imagery to further bolster fake news or infringe others’ copyrights. It also won’t generate imagery that mimics artwork of currently living artists (to protect rights to their work and earnings).

Created images may be downloaded for you to use on social media, personal use and websites.

It is legal from Bing and ChatGPT, but I would strongly advise reading the terms of use and captioning AI-generated images to demonstrate your transparency. And, of course, the content of what you create can’t infringe upon others’ copyright protections.

AI-generated images are created with text prompts. You describe what you want to create and hit “Generate.” The software interprets your text, and 30+ seconds later it displays variations of your prompt request. Let me walk you through a few variations I tried, beginning with this image of a dachshund:

That was not my first attempt to generate “Bella’s Point of View.” Like all new skills, my earlier attempts produced a younger dog. (Bella’s a senior dog.) The software attempted to flatten Bella into the sidewalk, a la Mary Poppins and her sidewalk chalk art. It may take several adjustments to your text prompt to generate what you seek.

Photo-realism is more challenging to create. It can take more practice to provide viable prompts. One thing I like to try is juxtaposing visuals that ordinarily don’t go together. They are more likely to get viewers to stop to figure out why dissparate items are combined. For my first attempt, I wanted to try adding 19^th century Sherlock Holmes to a modern, 21^st century home:

DALL·E’s not the only game in town! I mentioned a few of the primary competitors to OpenAI’s image generation app above, but I do have an ace up my sleeve: Photoshop. With its 25^th release of Photoshop this past month, Adobe incorporated their own AI-generative image app, Firefly.

With a bit of trial and error in Photoshop, I was able to nearly triple the width of my original, square image generated by Bing. And just like the competitors’, Adobe’s software offers several result variations from which to choose. (I liked the one with red sneakers best.) Further, I can then add layers to smooth out edges or alter coloring.

Photoshop’s AI image generative tools are a HUGE game-changer:

• You can edit existing images (which you can’t do on Bing or ChatGPT).
• Have a photo bomber in an otherwise perfect image? I can remove them with ease!
• Just want to change one part of a DALL·E’s AI image? I gave that a try with the alligator in the closet (below).

Here’s where I discovered some of Adobe’s first shortcomings. I attempted, through different prompts, to convince the AI “genie” to shorten the gator’s legs to appear more realistic. These were the variations it returned: