How to Use AI to Create Images: Practical Guide

Using AI to create images means describing what you want in text, and letting a tool like DALL·E, Midjourney, or Stable Diffusion generate the visual in seconds. No drawing skills needed. No graphic designer required. You write an instruction, the tool produces an image. That’s the basic principle.

But between that principle and genuinely usable results, there’s a gap most executives discover after their first attempt.

This guide is here to close that gap.

Why a Business Leader Should Pay Attention

Marketing, communications, and design teams spend significant time on visuals. Presentations, LinkedIn posts, sales materials, report illustrations. Every visual has a cost: internal time, agency fees, or stock image subscriptions.

Generative AI for images changes the equation. Not by replacing your graphic designers. By giving them a tool that accelerates mockup production, visual ideation, and variant creation. And by enabling teams without design skills to produce decent visuals for internal use.

In Morocco, players like AH Digital are already developing this type of automation for SMEs. This is no longer a topic reserved for large tech companies.

The Three Tools You Need to Know

DALL·E (OpenAI)

Developed by OpenAI, DALL·E is accessible through several online interfaces. Quick onboarding, no complex configuration. Ideal for getting started.

Limitation: results are good but less customizable than alternatives.

Midjourney

Midjourney is widely used for the visual quality it produces, particularly for professional communication purposes. This reflects shared practitioner experience, not an independently verified ranking. It runs through Discord. The learning curve is slightly longer.

Limitation: less intuitive interface, paid subscription required.

Stable Diffusion

The open-source option. Install it locally or use dedicated web interfaces. Maximum control, minimal cost. But it requires some technical configuration.

Limitation: not designed for someone who wants results in five minutes with zero effort.

For an executive or HR director who wants to test quickly: start with DALL·E. For a marketing team that wants quality visuals: Midjourney is worth the learning investment.

Four Steps to Get Usable Results

Step 1: Write a Precise Instruction

AI generates what you describe. Write “a business meeting” and you get something generic. Write “a board meeting in a modern Casablanca office, natural light, five people around a glass table, realistic photographic style” and you get something usable.

The precision of your description determines the quality of the result. This is the core skill to develop.

Step 2: Specify the Visual Style

Always add a style to your instruction. Examples that work:

• “realistic photographic style”
• “minimalist vector illustration”
• “professional 3D render”
• “modern watercolor”
• “corporate infographic”

Without a style indication, the tool chooses for you. Sometimes well, often not.

Step 3: Iterate Quickly

Don’t chase perfection on the first try. Generate several variants, see what works, refine the instruction, regenerate. The process resembles a conversation more than a single command.

Midjourney generates four options by default. DALL·E also offers multiple variants. Use this feature.

Step 4: Check Before Publishing

AI makes mistakes. Hands with six fingers. Unreadable text within the image. Distorted logos. Asymmetrical faces. Look at your image before sending it to a client or publishing it.

A simple rule that many forget in the excitement of first results.

I’ve built a methodological framework to help leadership teams integrate these tools into their processes without wasting time on trial and error. Download the Board Pack AI 2026 for a structured view of priority use cases.

Concrete Use Cases for Your Teams

Marketing: visuals for social media, newsletter illustrations, blog post cover images. You produce variants in minutes, not days.

Internal communications: presentation illustrations, annual report visuals, training material images.

Product design: conceptual mockups, visual explorations before briefing a supplier. You arrive at the brief with a clear direction, not a vague idea.

Recruitment: visuals for job postings, career page images. As I explored in my article on AI opportunities and challenges for SMEs, organizations that integrate these tools gain responsiveness in markets where speed matters.

Pitfalls to Avoid

First pitfall: believing the instruction doesn’t matter. “Generate a professional image” doesn’t work. AI needs context, style, details.

Second pitfall: using generated images without checking rights. Terms of use vary by tool and subscription tier. Read the official terms of each tool before any commercial use. What you read in blog articles, including this one, does not replace reading the official terms.

Third pitfall: neglecting visual consistency. If your brand guidelines use specific colors and a defined style, AI doesn’t know this by default. You must specify it in every instruction, or use tools that allow saving custom styles.

Fourth pitfall: thinking it replaces everything. Generative AI for images is a rapid production and exploration tool. For a major advertising campaign or a brand identity, you still need a human art director supervising the work.

On the governance side, the regulatory landscape is evolving fast. The EU AI Act is catching up with Moroccan players working with Europe, as I analyzed in my article on AI’s legal framework in Morocco.

What You Can Realistically Expect

A team that masters these tools produces working visuals without depending on an external supplier for every need. Back-and-forth with agencies decreases. Internal material production timelines too.

This isn’t a structural breakthrough that changes everything overnight. It’s an operational fluidity gain that compounds over time.

If you want to structure the integration of these tools into your teams without improvising, request a free diagnostic. We look together at where it creates measurable value in your specific context.

FAQ

Do you need technical skills to use these tools?

No. DALL·E requires no particular technical skills. You write a description, you get an image. Midjourney requires getting used to the Discord interface, which takes an hour at most.

Do these tools work in French?

Yes. DALL·E understands French instructions. Midjourney too, though English instructions often yield better results. A useful tip: draft your instruction in French, ask a translation tool or conversational agent to reframe it in optimized English, then use that version.

Can generated images be used commercially?

It depends on the tool and the subscription tier. Conditions vary and evolve. Read the terms of service of each tool before publishing or using an image in a commercial context. Don’t cut corners on this point.

What’s the difference between these tools and a stock image library?

A stock library gives you access to existing photos. Generative AI creates an image that doesn’t exist yet, tailored to your specific need. You won’t find “a board meeting in a Casablanca office with an ocean view” in a stock library. You can generate it in thirty seconds.

Are these tools accessible from Morocco?

Yes. DALL·E and Midjourney are accessible in Morocco. Maroc Cloud has also announced the launch of Gemini Enterprise in Morocco, which further expands the options available locally.