Image generation is artificial intelligence that creates images from a text description – a prompt. Tools such as Midjourney, DALL·E and the built-in features of the office suites have made visual production available to everyone.
The opportunity is obvious: illustrations, moodboards and variations without waiting and without a budget. But precisely because everyone can, the visual expression becomes a strategic choice. A brand that generates in every direction loses its face faster than it realises.
Then there are the rights: who owns a generated image, what was it trained on, and may it be used commercially? The answers depend on the tool and the agreements – and should be settled before the images reach the channels.
In practice
The organisations that succeed define an image style before they open up the tools: motifs, mood, what AI may be used for – and what must always be genuinely photographed. That way, generation becomes a reinforcement of the identity instead of a dilution.
»Image generation makes it cheap to produce images – and expensive not to care what they look like.«
You can read how it fits with the rest of the creative work on the page about AI in creative work.
The concepts in this glossary run through my AI courses and workshops, where we work with them on your own tasks.