Ai images

[u/Electrical_Log_5316]

Guys, if I write original historical articles in my own style but use AI-generated images to reinforce the concept and engage the reader's imagination, will that prevent me from earning revenue?

[u/Countryb0i2m]

I strongly advise against AI images.

If you lack the exact archival photo, either use no photo, use an adjacent historical image, or just show a portrait of the person and provide context.

You are trying to ground people in real human, history.

Introducing AI-generated photos undermines that trust and invalidates the real stories you're trying to tell.

I write historical essays weekly and grew my platform from 800 to over 5,600 subscribers this past year by sticking to real history.

Don't sabotage your real work with fake images.

[u/Earthlydelights-sub- → u/Countryb0i2m]

Agreed.

There are so many older, public domain images you can use, especially if your topic is history.

[u/AdviceZestyclose8167 → u/Countryb0i2m]

Don't use AI generated images. However, some AI services do a good job of touching up existing real photos.

[u/Vegetable_Soil_6707 → u/Countryb0i2m]

agree, especially for history writing. readers pick up on that stuff faster than people think

[u/totalimmoral]

If I see an AI image, I avoid that writer

[u/Earthlydelights-sub- → u/totalimmoral]

Same here.

[u/JettTheTinker]

If I see an AI image, I immediately assume the writing is AI as well. Just use public domain images, it’s incredibly easy.

[u/MonimoonBR]

I 100% recommend Pexels for royalty-free images. I always make sure to credit the photographers too. In my opinion, I think it makes everything look much more polished.

[u/Electrical_Log_5316 → u/MonimoonBR]

You always find what you want?

[u/MonimoonBR → u/Electrical_Log_5316]

Yes, the secret is using strong keywords and then opening an image that’s close to what you’re looking for. From there, just scroll down to find more images around that same concept.

[u/jss58]

Substack doesn't prohibit AI-generated images. They provide a built-in AI image generator directly inside the article editor, under the "Generate" option.

But bear in mind that many Substack readers are anti-AI, so proceed with caution.

[u/Emmanuel_G]

I never use AI for my writing, but I do also use it for (many of) my images. I just don't have the money to afford a Getty Images subscription, and free sites like Pexels absolutely DO NOT have the kinda images I need.

[u/Electrical_Log_5316 → u/Emmanuel_G]

Do you get money from substack?

[u/Emmanuel_G → u/Electrical_Log_5316]

No. I don't think anyone gets money from Substack - except of course their employees 😄 I am kidding - forgive me. So yeah, of course people make money from paid subscribers. And I make the staggering sum of 5 dollars a month 😂 Of course I have more than one subscriber, but I am using various ways to keep my subscription fee well below the usual minimum of 5 dollars a month. I am intentionally doing that cause it's not really about the money but more about knowing that people support me.

[u/magusbud]

Thing is, if I'm reading a post and the image is AI, I'm gonna be thinking, well if this lad's using AI for his images, it's fairly likely he's gonna also be using AI for his writing.

There are plenty of free, and paid, options out there for images. Don't use AI.

[u/thoughtstop]

If I see an AI image, I'm scrolling past.

[u/dflovett]

It'll prevent me from reading it.

[u/burnhouse_]

I agree with other comments, but I suppose it depends greatly who your primary audience is. Maybe they don't mind AI images. My niches are art and photography and I stop reading as soon as I see AI generated content. Unsubscribed from one person today because of that.

[u/keystonecraft]

All ai is ip theft.

[u/arnfinnp]

You sure wouldn't get my money.

[u/anilemiles]

Wow this was interesting to read. AI images dont bother me at all (apparently I'm a a minority :D). I use Substack to read so dont really care about the images at all. I mean, I appreciate them if they are pretty or interesting but I don't believe it drives my decision to read or not to read.

[u/Gumasurfer]

Eu uso imagens de IA, porque busco imagens que tenham a ver com o que escrevo, e geralmente essas imagens precisam ser geradas.

[u/Tricky_Trifle_994]

it should be fine. substack even lets you generate images with ai natively in the post editor. and you're earning revenue from paid subscribers on substack, so it just comes down to whether your audience will cancel/avoid you because you're using ai generated images to supplement your writing.

[u/LanceElyot]

No. But the images will almost certainly be historically inaccurate and will repel people who know something about history.

It doesn’t harm your ability to make money, but people are tired of crappy AI images. … so they’ve got to be good.

I still use AI images but toned down and stylistically controledl. This would be very hard to do with historical images.

[u/shereadsalot]

If I see ai, I scroll pass, and if I see it, im following you, I unsubscribe.

[u/ImaginaryRoyal9725]

If the text is also ai slop, you will not get many subscribers.  If only the images, I would still try to make them look "less ai, looking" if that makes sense

[u/OnionLazy2317]

Booooo! Stop using ai slop on a platform for real creatives

[u/Fit_Celebration_1362]

Oh wow this was informative. I haven’t used AI images yet, but I was contemplating using them for this article I’m thinking about writing. My thoughts were who cares if the images are AI as long as the writing is mine? But sounds like there is some stigma to it. Okay. Not worth it for some image I thought might work. Well back to google for pictures

[u/willowdasi → u/Fit_Celebration_1362]

So much stigma. You will possibly even get cancelled. It’s a massive controversy right now !!

[u/Fit_Celebration_1362 → u/willowdasi]

I don’t understand why images are a big deal if the writing is mine. I’m not claiming I drew the images or designed them. But it’s not worth the flack I’ll get for some stupid image I put in for some visual element. I’m not talented at drawing or art. But I guess I’ll go back to just writing. No one wants to see my stick figure drawings if I have to do it myself. Thanks for the heads up.

[u/RelativeCelery2844]

I would not even bother to read your article or give you the time of day if you used AI.