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Irrelevant images definitely cheapen the perceived quality of an article, but let's not conflate "AI image" with "irrelevant image."

AI images are often at least as relevant as a stock photo, if not more so (assuming the creator spent the extra 30 seconds to make a prompt that's more tailored to the content)

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> AI images are often at least as relevant as a stock photo

That's damning with faint praise, as stock photos are rarely very relevant or add to the writing they're tacked onto.

I agree, I just don't understand this newfound hatred of AI-generated stock photos, when stock photos have always been bland and almost never a value-add for content.

I'm especially confused about this for feature images, because I would expect in most cases any helpful image (like a graph or diagram) would make for a really unattractive or incomprehensible thumbnail, and thumbnails are where featured images get the most exposure (social media previews etc).

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