I never planned to use AI images for WordPress websites I build or manage.
As much as AI is trendy right now, I’ve never liked any AI images I’ve seen. I find they look strange or otherworldly. I prefer human-created illustrations.
It seems I’m not alone. A few recently published studies back up the idea that humans (purportedly) prefer human-generated art over AI art.
But I’m curious and game to try new things and test them out.
A client needed images for the online courses in their WooCommerce store. So product images needed to be graphics or images that quickly illustrated online learning.
Few free options fit the bill. Out of curiosity, I tested Bertha AI, an AI content generation tool for WordPress. The AI illustrations could serve as placeholders. When it comes time to launch, my client could replace them with better ones.
With Bertha, generating an AI image using the text-to-image tool is easy. You write text describing the image you would like to generate. Then, a few seconds later, an image or illustration appears.
The illustrations of individuals came out okay. A little bit weird, but not too bad.
Group illustrations were even weirder
For illustrations of groups, I tried a different text prompt. “Create an illustration of a group of people all in their own homes on their laptops taking an online course.”
I expected illustrations of people in individual houses. Yet the AI generated groups of people together in one place.
These images have a lot of problems. Faces aren’t drawn properly. Hands don’t look right, body proportions are off, and hair wraps around faces in strange ways. The proportions are all wrong.
What’s more, there’s the weird laptop wrapping around a person’s head. I don’t know why a guy is reaching out to a woman in one of the images. The symbols on the laptops are odd as well.
I tested other free AI image generators besides Bertha AI. They too generated terrible illustrations of groups of people. Every illustration had some sort of issue with faces or proportions. Or something was off.
Should you use plugins to generate AI images on your WordPress website?
It seems any AI-style image plugin for WordPress will have limitations when it comes to generating illustrations. WordPress AI plugins may not be ready for complex drawings or emotions. They may not be able to convey humour. The playfulness, knowledge of human anatomy, context, and artistic skill of a human designer aren’t easy to replicate.
At this time, AI image generators are tools that may work great for a simple illustration or to create placeholders for your website.
My advice: if you need illustrations for your website, buy a package from a graphic designer. Or hire one. To my eyes, human-made art is far superior.
