09/02/2026
Thereâs been a lot of buzz about the most recent court ruling involving AI generated se*ual images of children, and I think itâs worth talking about what that means for photographers and the people who trust us with their images.
There are photos of Jilly I would have shared publicly five years ago that I would never share today. My personal Facebook is gutted. Josh is literally my only friend on it. I share her as little as possible now because the internet has changed, and what someone can do with a photo once it leaves my hands has changed right along with it.
That also affects how I handle your photos, especially photos of your children.
AI has been part of my workflow since long before it was a buzzword or a moral hill people decided to die on.
Adobe introduced its Sensei AI platform in 2016. Photographers have been using machine learning in professional editing software for years. Most people just didnât think of it as âAIâ until ChatGPT and other mass consumer generative AI platforms made the term part of everyday conversation.
So... what does AI actually look like in professional photography?
If thereâs a random person walking through the background of your wedding photo, I can use AI assisted tools in Lightroom or Photoshop to remove them. Lightroom can recognize a person so I can make adjustments to their skin or clothing without painstakingly tracing around them by hand (which is how I used to do it). AI can help clean up noise in a photograph taken in a dark reception space.
In the photo of myself and Josh posted alongside this text, I used Aftershoot AI retouching to remove the glare from my glasses.
My cinematic edits are another example. Those arenât made by uploading your photograph to ChatGPT and asking it to make something pretty. I create them using a combination of traditional editing, digital hand painting, overlays, compositing, and generative AI tools. AI is one piece of a much larger artistic process. AI is not the artist, it is a tool.
So yes, in that respect AI is absolutely part of my professional workflow.
ChatGPT and other consumer AI platforms are NOT.
Adobe and Aftershoot are the two foundational pieces of my editing workflow. I use Lightroom and Photoshop extensively, including their AI tools. Adobe states that it does not train Firefly or its partner generative AI models on my photos.
Aftershoot handles ALL of my culling and base editing, and itâs now primarily responsible for my retouching process as well. All normal batch culling, editing, and retouching happen locally on my computer (not in a cloud system where your photos are stolen and stored). Some optional learning features can send images or smaller versions to its servers, and Aftershoot gives photographers controls over whether their work contributes to broader AI improvement. I have opted out.
I occasionally use Topaz when a photograph needs specialized enhancement. This is particularly used for restoration projects that I am hired to do.
I keep up with the privacy policies of all three because I believe understanding what happens to your photographs when they interact with the software I use is part of my responsibility as your photographer.
What I do NOT do is upload client photographs into ChatGPT or other generic generative AI platforms to edit or manipulate them.
Iâll go a step further. I think uploading identifiable client photographs into those programs without informed permission is irresponsible for a photographer at any level.
When that photograph is of a child, I think itâs especially irresponsible.
Generative AI has made it much easier to create convincing fake imagery of real people, including se*ual imagery made from the likenesses of real, identifiable children.
If you donât want me to post your child, you never need to explain why. If youâre comfortable with photos being shared but have boundaries around names, schools, locations, or other identifying information, tell me.
My comfort level doesnât get to determine yours.
Iâm not anti AI. I use professional AI powered tools every single working day. Iâm against using technology without understanding what weâre handing over in exchange for the convenience it gives us.
And because that responsibility goes both ways, let me make one thing VERY clear about the photographs I deliver:
My photographs are NEVER to be uploaded to ChatGPT or similar mass consumer AI platforms.
My contract expressly prohibits clients from uploading my photographs to AI systems for generation, manipulation, training, or other unauthorized AI use.
If you decide to do it anyway, my licensing rate for that use is $10,000 PER PHOTO.
Yes, per photo.
Yes, retroactively.
Yes, even if youâre putting photos of yourself into AI systems this still applies.
I will die on this hill because these photographs contain two things I have an obligation to protect: my copyrighted work and the likenesses of the people who trusted me to create it.
Technology will keep changing, and the precautions I take with it will change too.
My standard has never been, âWhat am I technically allowed to do with this photograph?â
Itâs, âWhat should I do with something another person trusted me to protect?â
Your children arenât content to me. Theyâre people you trusted me to photograph, and I take that seriously.
