--- title: "Parents Are AI-Generating Pictures of Their Kids Instead of Paying for School Photos" description: "Desperate for a cheap and easy alternative to school photos, parents are feeding images of their children to ChatGPT." date: "2026-10-06" modified: "2026-10-06" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/parents-ai-school-photos-chatgpt" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" - "OpenAI" --- # Parents Are AI-Generating Pictures of Their Kids Instead of Paying for School Photos ![A treated photo of a child's school photo.]() *Shutterstock / Futurism* Why shell out for the mundane headshots by a school photographer when you could supercharge your kids' portrait with the power of AI? That's a calculation more and more parents are making these days, choosing to tap into generative AI tools like ChatGPT to fast-track school picture day. According [to *Fast Company*](), parents are taking to social media to brag up how much AI saved them on their children's' school print package — usually in the range of $25 to $60 per. One TikTok from influencer Carlie Bond showed off the hack: first, parents take some phone pictures of their children standing in front of a plain-colored wall, before tossing them into ChatGPT with the prompt "keep them exactly the same but make it look like a school picture." ChatGPT then adds a milquetoast background, reminiscent of school photos taken by typical bulk-photo companies like Lifetouch. "We took our own and let my good friend Chat help us out," Bond bragged, "and honestly... I'm not mad about how they turned out." "ChatGPT for the win," one TikTok user replied. https://www.tiktok.com/@carlieb0nd/video/7688898825179778318?referer_url=www.fastcompany.com%2F91615016%2Fparents-using-ai-chatgpt-to-skip-kids-school-picture-day&refer=embed&embed_source=121374463%2C121468991%2C121439635%2C121749182%2C121433650%2C121404359%2C122775750%2C121497414%2C122349556%2C122221973%2C122122240%2C121351166%2C121811500%2C121960941%2C122774852%2C122122244%2C122774848%2C122122243%2C122122242%2C121487028%2C122774709%2C122258714%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%2C121885509%3Bnull%3Bembed_pause_share&referer_video_id=7688898825179778318 Other parents observed by *FastCo* used AI to "remove" watermarks from scans of sample school photos, which they'd otherwise have to pay to clean up. Of course, both use cases involve feeding a likeness of your child to a corporate AI model, where the images which will surely be used to train the next iteration of AI tools. Simply put, once a parent uploads those images, they'll [never get them back](). Given the ethical and privacy risks involved, parents trying to save a buck on school photos might be wise to just take the pictures themselves, and leave ChatGPT behind. **More on AI:** *[AI Is Creating "Doom Loops" All Over the Economy]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()