This post piqued my interest, and surprise suprise, I have opinions. 🙃

I've spoken about my opinions on AI and image generation before and my opinion hasn't changed on that. I have, however, switched from ChatGPT to Claude, for reasons.

Using AI for feature images?

Like I said in my previous post about AI, I don't think it creates art, but it can be useful for diagrams and some imagary. I listed some examples of my usage in that post, go take a look.

For feature images, I think it's fine, I suppose. I don't think it has a bearing on the writer's ability to write good content thought. I think most people can spot AI-generated prose these days. If my spider-sense starts tingling, I'll close the tab. But if I only see an AI-generated feature image, it's fine.

I think images creation and the ability to write nice words are two different skills. Using AI to create a feature image doesn't tell me that the person has a particular lack of creativity, as creativity comes in many forms. Ask Brandon Sanderson to create the cover art for one of his books, and I imagine he'd struggle. Does that make him any less creative? No. It just means he's a creative writer, not a creative artist.

For the record - I have no idea if Sanderson is good at drawing. It's just an example, okay. Please don't email saying "well ackchyually..."

Would I do it? Probably not. But I don't see the point in feature images anyway. I stopped using them many years ago, as generally they add nothing to the post, and are more for the writer to make the post look pretty than anything else.

So when I see these kinds of feature images, my first thought tends to be meh... and my assumption is that the writer probably didn't have the time, or lacked the skills, to create an image. I'd personally prefer they didn't add one at all if that's the case, but that's just me.

Maybe we should all be a little less judgmental. 🤷🏼‍♂️