Image generators are good enough now that a small account can have a different picture for every post. The question is not whether to use them, but what for, and whether the people looking at the picture would feel misled if they knew.
Where they are fine
- Illustration: a concept, a mood, a backdrop for text.
- Decoration that is clearly not a photograph of your work.
- Drafts and ideas for a human to make properly.
Where they are not
- Anything that stands in for evidence: a product result, a before-and-after, a customer, a review, a place you claim to have been.
- Pictures of real people who did not agree to them.
- Your own product, if the buyer will receive something that looks different.
Say what it is
Networks have started to ask for a label on realistic AI-generated content, and the rules differ from one to the next and keep changing, so check each network’s current requirement. Beyond the rules, a short mention — “illustration made with AI” — costs nothing and keeps trust.
Check the result
- Hands, teeth, text and small print are where generators still go wrong. Look closely before you post.
- Keep the prompt and the original file. If a picture is questioned, you can show how it was made.
- The legal position on who owns an AI picture is unsettled in many places. Do not build a logo on one without advice.
Ask whether a regular customer would feel tricked on finding out. If yes, use a real photograph.