Gregory's ServerI understand the appeal, I also wish I were a competent illustrator, I also see some genAI stuff that looks kinda neat, I learned about the dollar-bill rule when I was the layout editor for my high school newspaper, I understand wanting to break up big blocks of text with visual interest for lighter writing. This is why, when I can, I take custom photos or include relevant classical art in my blog. Sometimes I'll even just use a stock image. It feels like genAI is like that but more customized.
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 This is hardly an original insight. Lots of other people are posting this exact advice. But I want to emphasize it because I just passed on linking to a page for like the 10th time this week because it included a big genAI hero image which looked like absolute shit. Scanning the article briefly it actually looked pretty good, it did not read like LLM slop, but it is a reputational risk to link to something that will give readers that immediate negative impression, and it's not worth it. As a reference, one of the best and most prolific writers that is (relatively) positive about genAI tools has a website that looks like this: https://simonwillison.net . Please observe the amount of genAI art that he is using for punch-ups or hero images @glyph GenAI images are now at the top of most information security blog posts I read, and they're honestly just annoying. The topic or headline drew me in, I want to get on with it and read your post!  @glyph Saw this example of a neat interstitial image that isn't genAI and doesn't require being a skilled illustrator. Parker Molloy used a screengrab from the video that she was discussing, and edited it for visual effect in a really cool way. It takes artistic skill, but not necessarily skill as an illustrator.   @glyph Thanks, Iβm going to use βdo you know the youngs call this boomer artβ from now on. Should be a good argument because the people using slop in this way think they are at the vanguard of tech innovation. (Of course the likely outcome is they will just hate on me for being negative. π€·ββοΈ)   @makeworld when you are laying out a newspaper or magazine, if you can place a dollar bill on the page and have it overlap nothing but plain text, that is too long a run of text. You should insert a pull quote, a photo, an infographic or something to vary the flow and add visual interest  @glyph Another way to break up your writing is through the use of headings, subheadings, and bulleted lists. Also, callouts and sidebars. All of this can be done with HTML or CSS. |
But it isn't. Unless you are a *real* master with these tools there is an unavoidable sheen that they leave on the generated image. It's the smell, if there is such a thing. This is not just me; if you go anywhere that younger people are congregating online, "boomer art" is the *most* polite thing that they call this stuff. It damages your credibility. If you were lazy enough to fake the image, are you lazy enough to fake the facts? It is *much* worse than just having no image at all.