Parents Are AI-Generating Pictures of Their Kids Instead of Paying for School Photos

In an era where technology is increasingly integrated into everyday life, more and more parents are opting to harness the power of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to create school portraits for their children instead of paying for the traditional service provided by school photographers. Fast Company reports that parents are turning to social media to showcase the financial savings they realize by utilizing AI, with costs typically ranging from $25 to $60 per print package.

TikTok influencer Carlie Bond posted a video demonstrating the process, which involves taking individual photos of children standing in front of a plain-colored wall and then inputting the images into ChatGPT with the instruction "keep them exactly the same but make it look like a school picture." After ChatGPT processes the input, it adds a generic background, similar to what one might expect from bulk-photo companies like Lifetouch.

Bond expressed satisfaction with the results, stating, "We took our own and let my good friend Chat help us out, and honestly... I'm not mad about how they turned out." Another TikTok user echoed this sentiment, exclaiming, "ChatGPT for the win." Some parents even turned to AI to remove watermarks from sample school photos, which they would have had to pay to clean up.

Both methods involve feeding a likeness of the child to a corporate AI model, which will likely be used to train the next generation of AI tools, raising ethical and privacy concerns. Parents should consider taking their own photos to avoid these issues, as once the images are uploaded to ChatGPT, the parents will never regain access to them.