AI Image Generation: What You Can Actually Make
Two years ago, AI images looked like fever dreams. Melting faces, hands with seven fingers, text that was gibberish. Made for good memes, not much else.
Now? The best generators produce stuff that's genuinely usable. Professional-quality images. Photorealistic scenes. Artwork in any style you can describe. Still not perfect—the tells are there if you look—but good enough for real work.
What These Tools Do
You type words. You get pictures. That's the basic idea.
The reality is more nuanced. "A cat" gives you a cat. "A fluffy orange tabby cat sitting on a vintage red velvet armchair, warm afternoon light from a window, shallow depth of field, professional photography" gives you something much more specific. The skill is learning to describe what you actually want.
Most tools also support variations—generate something, then iterate. "Make the cat look more playful." "Change the lighting to dramatic." "Add a bookshelf in the background." Conversation with the AI until you get something close to your vision.
Different Strengths
Photorealistic Generators
Images that look like photographs. Product mockups, stock photo replacements, scenes that need to look "real." Best ones are genuinely impressive. Worst ones hit uncanny valley hard.
Artistic Styles
Digital art, illustrations, paintings, specific artistic movements. Often more forgiving than photorealism—stylization hides imperfections. Great for creative projects.
Design Tools
Marketing graphics, social media images, presentations. More template-driven but faster for business applications. Less artistic flexibility, more practical output.
Specialized Generators
Specific use cases—logos, avatars, product images, architectural concepts. Trading flexibility for quality in their niche. Worth considering if you have specific needs.
The Skill of Prompting
Getting good results is mostly about good prompts. Generic input, generic output. The people getting amazing results aren't using magic tools—they've learned to describe images precisely.
Vocabulary matters. "Cinematic lighting." "Bokeh background." "Isometric view." "Art nouveau style." These terms mean things to the AI. Learning them gives you control.
Negative prompts help too. "No watermark." "No blurry." "No extra fingers." Telling the AI what to avoid can be as important as telling it what to include.
Practical Applications
Marketing teams generating social media graphics, ad variations, campaign visuals. Way cheaper than stock photos or custom design for high-volume needs.
Content creators adding unique images to posts, videos, courses. No more settling for the same stock photos everyone uses.
Designers using AI for concept exploration. Generate 20 variations quickly, pick the best direction, refine from there. Accelerates the creative process without replacing it.
Regular people making profile pictures, gifts, personal projects. Democratized access to image creation that previously required artistic skill or money.
The Limitations
Hands remain problematic. Getting better, but count the fingers before using any image with hands. Six-fingered people remain common.
Text in images is usually garbage. Letters that look like letters but aren't quite. You'll need to add text separately in most cases.
Specific people and brands are tricky. Copyright and likeness issues. Most tools restrict generating recognizable faces or logos. For good reasons.
Consistency across multiple images is hard. Need the same character in different scenes? The AI doesn't remember what it generated before. Workarounds exist but add complexity.
Common Questions
Who owns AI-generated images?
Legally murky. Most tools grant you usage rights. Whether AI images are copyrightable varies by jurisdiction and is still being litigated. For commercial use, check your tool's terms and consider legal advice for anything important.
Is this killing artist jobs?
Complicated question. Some work that went to artists now goes to AI. Some artists use AI to be more productive. Some new creative possibilities exist that didn't before. The industry is changing, not simply shrinking.
How do I get consistent characters?
It's one of the harder problems. Some tools have features specifically for this. Others require very detailed descriptions repeated across prompts. Some people use reference images where supported. No perfect solution yet.
What about the ethics of AI art?
Real concerns about training data, artist compensation, consent. Worth thinking about. Some tools are more transparent about their training than others. Vote with your wallet if these issues matter to you.