How-To Guides
AI Image Commercial Use Checklist
A practical checklist for reviewing AI-generated images before using them in ads, websites, social posts, presentations, or client work.
AI-generated images can be useful for concepts, drafts, and fast visual exploration. Commercial use is different. Before an image appears in an ad, landing page, client deck, product page, or paid social post, it needs a review process.
This checklist does not replace legal advice. It gives creators and small teams a practical way to reduce obvious risks before publishing.
1. Check the tool's official terms
Start with the official product terms and plan details. Do not rely on a summary from a random post or an old screenshot.
Review:
- Whether commercial use is allowed for your plan.
- Whether generated images can be used in client work.
- Whether private generation, attribution, or disclosure rules apply.
- Whether rights differ between free and paid plans.
- Whether local law, client policy, or platform policy adds stricter rules.
If the project is high-value or legally sensitive, ask a qualified professional.
2. Check for real people and likeness risk
Avoid images that appear to show real public figures, private individuals, or recognizable likenesses unless you have a clear right to use them.
Risk signals:
- The face looks like a known person.
- The image imitates a specific celebrity, politician, employee, or customer.
- The scene suggests endorsement by a person who did not approve it.
- The image could be mistaken for documentary evidence.
For ads and editorial work, safer images are often conceptual, illustrative, or clearly fictional.
3. Check logos, brands, and protected characters
AI images may accidentally generate logos, brand-like marks, copyrighted characters, or recognizable product shapes.
Before publishing, zoom in and inspect:
- Clothing marks
- Background signs
- Product labels
- Interface elements
- Packaging
- Posters and screens
Remove or replace anything that looks like an unauthorized brand asset.
4. Check factual accuracy
Some images look realistic but show impossible or misleading details. This matters for product pages, tutorials, finance, health, education, legal content, and news-adjacent content.
Ask:
- Does the image imply a product feature that does not exist?
- Does it show a fake chart, number, warning label, or interface?
- Does it suggest a real event that did not happen?
- Could a reader interpret the image as evidence?
If the answer is yes, use a clearly illustrative style or choose a different asset.
5. Check text inside the image
Generated text inside images is often unreliable. It can be misspelled, warped, or misleading.
For serious work, generate the image without text and add real text later in a design tool. This gives you control over copy, accessibility, translation, and brand typography.
6. Check brand fit
An image can be legally usable and still be wrong for the brand.
Review:
- Color palette
- Mood
- Cultural cues
- Visual density
- Cropping behavior
- Compatibility with existing pages
- Whether the style can repeat across a series
One impressive image is not a brand system.
7. Check accessibility and layout
Place the image in the actual design before approving it.
Check:
- Does text overlay remain readable?
- Does the crop work on mobile?
- Is the subject hidden by buttons, headers, or cards?
- Is contrast strong enough?
- Does the image add meaning, or is it decorative noise?
Publication checklist
- Official terms reviewed.
- No unauthorized likenesses.
- No accidental logos or protected characters.
- No misleading product, event, or interface details.
- No unreliable generated text.
- Brand and layout review completed.
- Client or internal approval captured if needed.
FAQ
Can I use AI images in ads?
Sometimes, but do not assume. Check the tool terms, ad platform policy, client policy, and the actual image content before publishing.
Should I disclose AI-generated images?
Disclosure requirements depend on context, platform, jurisdiction, and client expectations. When the image could mislead viewers, disclosure or replacement may be necessary.
Is a paid plan always safer?
Not always. Paid plans may change usage rights or limits, but the final image still needs review for likeness, brands, factual accuracy, and platform rules.
Disclaimer
This checklist is practical editorial guidance, not legal advice. For legal, regulated, or high-value commercial work, consult qualified counsel and official platform policies.