Should Your Business Use ChatGPT for Image Generation?

ChatGPT can produce an image in a minute for almost nothing, so small businesses now use it for blog headers, product pages, social posts and ads. The useful question is what each image costs in trust. This covers public-facing visuals. AI for brainstorming is a safer, separate question: Gallup found 75% of Americans accept AI for brainstorming and early drafts, 53% for final ad content and only 38% for creating people or voices (Gallup, 2026).

What the data shows

Younger adults are the most negative group by a wide margin. Overall, 49% of Americans view AI in advertising negatively against 19% positively, and 79% saw an AI-created ad in the past month (3,270 adults, May 2026).

The IAB’s 2026 study of 505 U.S. Gen Z and Millennial consumers agrees. 39% of Gen Z feel negative about AI ads, up from 21% in 2024 and nearly double Millennials at 20%. Gen Z calls brands that use AI inauthentic (30%), disconnected (26%) and unethical (24%), more than double the Millennial rates. Advertisers misread it: 82% of ad executives expected positive feelings, and 45% of consumers had them (IAB).

Other studies line up with those numbers:

Why Gen Z reacts this way

In December 2025, Merriam-Webster named “slop” its word of the year, defined as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence” (TechCrunch). When a culture coins a dismissive word for a content type, using that content type files your brand under it. Skyfield’s view is that visuals are among the fastest trust signals on a page, and a ChatGPT image tells a younger visitor that nobody cared enough to commission the visuals. These studies cover Gen Z and Millennials and none yet measures Gen Alpha, but we expect that audience to follow the same direction.

Where ChatGPT images go wrong

AI images fail in repeatable ways, and audiences have learned to spot them.

Brands that took the backlash

Coca-Cola’s lab scores were excellent and the backlash came anyway. Dove went the other way and pledged never to use AI-generated content in its ads (Rolling Stone).

What the evidence does not show

Three caveats apply. Nielsen Norman Group found no trust penalty for AI images when visitors did not know the source, and ratings fell once they suspected AI. Clutch found 57% of consumers could not spot AI photos, and 73% of IAB respondents said knowing an ad used AI would raise or not change their likelihood to buy. Gallup measured attitudes, not purchases.

Skyfield’s read: the savings from a free image are small, and the downside lands on the younger buyers who spot the tells, screenshot them and share them. Hiding AI use does not fix it, since labeling alone cut clicks in the NYU and Emory test and most consumers say they want disclosure.

Skyfield’s position: hire an artist

Skyfield recommends that businesses do not use ChatGPT image generation for public-facing visuals. Pay a human. An online freelance artist lets you review a portfolio before you commit, and a local illustrator or photographer gives you a story that works on your website and Google Business Profile.

Rates are lower than most owners expect. goLance reports these 2026 hourly ranges:

A blog header or spot illustration rarely needs more than a few hours of mid-level time, so it lands in the low hundreds of dollars (Skyfield estimate).

1. Brief the artist with brand colors, your audience and three reference images.
2. Put usage rights for web, ads and print in writing.
3. Use real photos of your team, shop and finished work wherever you can.
4. Keep AI for internal brainstorming only. For that side, see AI-assisted workflows without losing quality.

Visual trust works alongside rankings and AI citations, and Skyfield handles those through SEO and GEO.

Frequently asked questions

Sources