AI Images in Marketing. What to consider
The use of artificial intelligence in various business areas is getting popular, and companies spare no finance for investments. The 2022 NPW report «Data and AI Leadership Executive Survey» states that 91% of leading enterprises invest in AI. The technology helps to optimize and even automate numerous routine processes, including design. The creation of high-quality images is a time-consuming and in some cases expensive process, however, the implementation of AI can change everything.
The drastic popularity of neural networks has raised concerns about their ethics in the creative community. The main question is whether this software truly simplifies companies’ lives: is it excitement or real optimization? Let’s get to the bottom of this issue.
What AI images are
AI images are illustrations generated by AI software using the algorithms for assessment and optimization of existing pictures.
It’s a search-based method of developing visually appealing illustrations: AI looks at existing content in search engines to create new visuals.
AI combines multiple keyword requests and creates something unique and relevant at the same time (in case you choose the correct words to describe the desired result).
Depending on the selected platform, the choice of keywords and description differ: some tools require a more in-depth response, while others need a specific style to be indicated.
There are the simplest ones that require only several words. For example, if you type three random words “flower, snow, PC”, you can get an image with all these objects present. Below, you can see the result.
It is important to understand that certain AI tools require active involvement in the creation of prompt, multiple efforts, and result improvements.
It is the reason for this approach to content generation may be more complicated than it seems. And alongside the advantages of AI content generation, we can also outline a bunch of flaws.
“Designers worry that AI will take away their work. In fact, they can relax, for a customer to be able to use AI tools, they need to clearly know what they want”.
Pros and Cons of AI Images in Marketing
Like any technology, artificial intelligence has its pros and cons, which can affect the decision to use it. To see if this method of creating visual content is right for you, let’s take a closer look at what AI can help with, and what can be difficult.
Pros
The trend to adopt AI for the purpose of creating imaginative content is easily explained by its advantages. Let’s talk about the two main ones.
Pricing
The first and most compelling argument for implementing AI tools in content development is the low cost compared to what you invest in hiring illustrators.
For numerous businesses exploring ways to cut costs in a recession or for smaller companies that don’t have the budget to expand their teams, using software to create images can be much more affordable than headhunting designers.
The cost depends a lot on the choice of AI platform, but it’s still cheaper than expanding staff. Having unique content without the cost of manual labor can be a huge advantage for businesses.
Time
The second, but no less important, advantage is the time it takes to create the images. It will take the designer, depending on his skills, the program he works in, and the technical assignment, some time to make a relevant and attractive illustration. Whether it’s 20 hours or just 30 minutes, AI will do it much faster. Image-generating neural networks take a human search query and offer several options in less than a minute.
Another question is how to get what you want the first time. It’s a matter of experience and the right description with keywords.
Cons
All that glitters is not gold, and AI tools are no exception. Despite the recent surge in the popularity of content generation platforms, the technology has many drawbacks.
Quality
While AI is gradually becoming more intuitive, it still cannot generate “perfect” images. The resulting images sometimes look strange and confusing. It happens, for example, that the images show incorrect body proportions or objects that defy the laws of physics.
Nevertheless, the technology is developing and perhaps soon everything will be optimized. In the meantime, AI may not fulfill your desire to create “correct” images, and you may accidentally find two left hands in a realistic photo, the nose of a fish or hair instead of leaves on the crown of a tree.
Edits and changes
As mentioned, AI tools don’t always create what you want to see in the end. So you still have to resort to human review of images before approving them for any business use. Teams should be ready to make edits and changes to the illustrations, as some results may not meet some or all of the stated requirements. That said, you won’t be getting sources with layers, so any post-production will be complicated.
Also, not all tools allow you to create images iteratively and make changes to them. It’s common to have to generate prompts repeatedly, and to spin around the same queries 10, 15, 20 times.
These are the basics about the advantages and disadvantages of AI tools for generating content. Their list is very individual and depends a lot on the tool you choose and its capabilities, as well as the requirements of the company and the type of content you want to create.
Conclusion
Some business owners and designers are wary of neural networks, but machine-assisted content generation is slowly being integrated into the lives of companies. Today, it is impossible to say for sure whether AI will replace manual labor in image creation.
I believe that craftsmanship and professionalism will always be quite valuable in the marketplace, and over time AI tools will simply optimize the work of creative teams and specialists.
The technology continues to evolve, and all we have to do is watch. Nevertheless, you can already try different AI platforms. Who knows, maybe it’s the kind of tool that will become an indispensable visual content creator for your brand.
