I TESTED A TERRIFYING AI PHOTO UPDATE
AND IT GOT WEIRD
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I used to spot AI images instantly. But now? You’ll have to read on.
Lately, my TikTok feed has been flooded with people gasping over the new ChatGPT update and its eerily realistic images. I wasn’t convinced. These kinds of videos pop up all the time, and when I actually try the tool, it rarely lives up to the hype. Especially when so many of the “AI” images going viral have clearly been retouched by real people using a stack of editing apps.
Still, I was curious enough to see what all the fuss was about—so I decided to run my own little test.
Quick reminder: last year, I wrote a piece about letting AI dress me for a week. Back then, ChatGPT’s images looked like this:
They were fun—perfect for a little experiment—but completely unusable for anything commercial. And yet, some brands didn’t seem to get the memo. In January, I opened Vogue and saw a full-page Skechers ad that was 100% AI-generated, sitting right next to editorials from Miu Miu, Balenciaga, and Dior. It looked like a piece of crap.
ChatGPT has always struggled with faces, text, and the occasional extra limb. The Skechers ad left all those mistakes in (check out the people in the background and the woman on the left, her left hand says it all). Strange move. Maybe they were going for provocative, but it didn’t feel edgy. It just felt cheap.
Anyway.
If that’s the current floor for retail images, then AI can only go up from here.
Now that we’re all caught up, let’s dive in. I’m testing the new ChatGPT 4o model (yep, the paid version)
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First, I gave ChatGPT this prompt:
Create a highly realistic portrait of a stylish woman standing on a Chicago city street. She's in her late 20s with medium-length dark hair, wearing a chic trench coat and boots. Background: classic Chicago architecture, hint of the 'L' train above, golden-hour cinematic lighting.
Here’s what I got:
Then I asked for a close-up:
Then I requested a more realistic version:
Just for comparison, here's what DALL-E would have produced with the same request:
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Since I’m already here, I wondered if AI could replicate one of my real photos. I picked an old nightclub shot of me and my girlfriends and told AI to recreate it.
Original photo
But here we hit a snag.
As you can see, the photo is incomplete. AI promptly gave me this message: "I wasn’t able to generate that image because the request violates our content policies."
So I asked ChatGPT for a safer prompt, and it suggested:
A group of stylish women in their late 20s posing together at a cozy bar during a night out. Smiling, laughing, trendy cocktail dresses, soft ambient lighting, warm atmosphere, wood-paneled walls, and a glowing EXIT sign.
Result:
Weirdly, everyone looked pretty much identical. When I asked for some differences, well… it wasn’t much better—and definitely nothing like my actual friends.
This AI thing is making me lose my patience. Hit the like ❤️ to make it worth it.
However, I did notice that the kind of lighting the AI was mimicking looked like it came from a softbox or another type of large, diffused light source. Not exactly realistic for a spontaneous bar pic. Usually, bar photos mean phone cameras and harsh flash. So I asked:
"Make it look like it was taken on a phone with a flash."
Dude, this one was actually good.
Thoughts?
I think photos are about preserving real moments, not making an album full of fake memories. AI might actually be more useful as an easier-to-use Photoshop, something that helps you enhance your real images quickly and intuitively. Photoshop’s working on that, but honestly, the results still vary wildly… and not in a good way. But that’s going to get better. Eventually. Whether it’s them or someone else.
On the retail side, I’m just not into brands using AI images to sell products. I want to see how a garment looks on a real model, for many reasons. Like, the way fabric falls on her body gives me clues: is it light, heavy, stiff? And if I see little imperfections, like a stretched-out neckline, I know what kind of mess I’m getting into. Maybe it’s only $20, and I don’t care. Or maybe it’s expensive, and I’d rather not be disappointed.
AI isn’t going to show me that. And if I buy something that fits weird, I’m not mad at the AI, I’m mad at the brand that used it.
But hey, I’m sure someone will figure out a workaround for that too.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! Would you use it? And if so, for what? Do you hate it? Love it?
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With love,
Bonnie.
P.S. Oh! And yes, the first photo was AI. ✅
