SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR AI IMAGE EDITING

 

AI doesn't understand importance the way we do. We may be quite happy with an image of the mountains, a meandering river and lovely cloud formation. We only want one tweak - a lighter colour instead of the dark brown of the tree on the left side of the image. AI does lighten the tree colour but it also entirely changes the shape of the river, the sky formation, the colours of everything and may add a sun. It has no idea you loved the shape of the river which made it sacred and untouchable and thought the clouds were perfect. To AI, it’s just a lot of pixels. For now, its part of an adventure of working with a tool that's incredibly capable and occasionally behaves like an enthusiastic assistant who takes one simple instruction and decides to renovate the whole house.

Obviously we need to take the time to cover in great detail exactly what we want, and what AI is and isn’t allowed to do. That takes time and sometimes is not worth the trouble. A bigger problem is often that despite detailed descriptions given, it may still alter, deletes or adds things; get the spelling wrong; change the upper case text you gave it into lower case or places it too close to the top; or any of the other numerous frustrating moves it can make. It is a good test of our patience and persistence, however.

So, when using AI to edit images, we don’t just need to look at whether it followed our instructions, we need to check what was lost in the process. Because AI has a tendency to change much more than it was asked to do, we need to pay attention to the overall composition rather than just ticking off the edit we asked for. A request to make a boring drab sky look more interesting, you may find it added a spaceship.

People who haven't worked much with AI images will find out what happens when they do try it. And, it doesn’t tell you what it intends to do with your request. We only see it after the picture has been created. But even if you asked it what it intends to create from your instruction, you will get a complicated description (often flowery) answer that sounds like it’s going to create a masterpiece, similar to the art on the Sistine chapel. It won’t be anything like that!

REQUESTS AND AI RESPONSES.

1.  User: "Can you make the teacup a little smaller?"

AI: "Of course. The teacup is now 8% smaller. The woman is now a man, the dog has become a goat, the kitchen is Victorian, and there is a hot air balloon in the background."

2. User: Can you change the brown shades in the foreground to more colourful shades?

AI: "Certainly. I've changed the flowers to pink, moved the mountain, rotated the house, replaced the river, changed the lighting, and given the dog a different face."

3. User: "Could you make the cat slightly larger?"

AI: "Absolutely. The cat is now larger. Also, the house is gone, it's winter, there are three moons, and the cat is wearing a top hat."

4. User: "Can you remove that small tree on the left?"

AI: "Certainly. I have removed the tree, moved the mountain, replaced the river, changed the lighting, redesigned the house, altered the weather pattern, shifted the season from spring to autumn, and given the dog a different face.

I asked it to remove a fence and it rebuilt the entire town.

I wanted a different hat and it changed the person's grandparents.

I asked for a blue car and it moved the moon.

AI’s GUIDE FOR IMAGE EDITING

When requesting a minor change, always inspect:

  • The mountain
  • The river
  • The sky
  • The house
  • The people
  • The animals
  • The season
  • The century
  • The laws of physics

Because one of them may have changed without notice.

Maybe one day, AI will respond with:

User: "Please brighten the flowers in the foreground."

AI: "Certainly. I have changed only the flowers in the foreground. I have left the river, mountains, signpost, dog, house, lighting, weather, season, planetary alignment, text, and all known dimensions remain exactly as they were."

That day will be a celebration for image creators.

I am sure AI users now have a rapidly growing collection of similar stories. It’s like a documentary that will become part of the folklore of the early AI era. But we are teaching each other. I am sure AI must report back things like ‘Today 157,000 users making edit requests asked for more colour to replace dark brown, black and navy.

Love,

Sandy Stevenson

31.5.26