Worth 1,000 words - Al image generation gets real

THE AI EDGE

- Joe Smith

You've messed around creating images in AI. They could be useful for work, for social media and it's fun too.

But the results were hit-and-miss. Not ready for prime time, you thought. That was a while ago and now you've stopped experimenting.

If this describes you, read on, because AI image generation has quietly advanced in leaps and bounds in 2025. Agency-grade images can now be created natively in the big models like ChatGPT and Gemini and it'll be a matter of months before video follows suit.

But you need the right prompts to unlock all this goodness. In this column, we look and the best tools, tips and hacks to generate jaw-dropping images with AI.

First, tools. The big news for image generation this year was OpenAI bundling the best-of-class DALL-E 3 image generator into ChatGPT itself. You can now generate some of the very best images natively without having to mess around with bespoke Als like Midjourney, Firefly or Canva.

This was an instant hit for Open AI, as users flocked to, for some reason, make Studio Ghibli-style images of their favourite meme. “Our GPUs are melting,” said CEO Sam Altman on X.com.