School photo packages generally costs $25 to $60 per child, and families with more children feel the whole thing quickly. TikTok creator Carlie Bond’s reported solution has garnered attention: take photos of your kids against a plain wall at home, upload the images to ChatGPT, and ask it to add a school portrait-style gradient backdrop.
How the workflow works
The basic steps are simple, but the results depend on your ChatGPT plan and how well the tool handles your child’s likeness.
The process requires a phone, a blank wall, and access to ChatGPT’s image upload feature. OpenAI confirms that this is a supported capability, although availability depends on your plan and account configuration.
According to Fast Company, Bond photographed all three of her children against a simple backdrop and used a prompt ChatGPT to preserve their appearances while adding a school-picture-style background. The tool reportedly produced results that resembled the gradient backgrounds commonly seen in school portraits.
The Catch: Your child’s face may not survive the edit
Generative AI can change a child’s appearance even if you don’t ask it to.
Some parents have reported that their children’s faces have changed during generation, even after explicitly asking ChatGPT to preserve their features, according to Dexerto. The result is more accurately described as and AI stylized portrait like a faithful photograph. Before you consider the output finished, check the eyes, facial proportions and hairline carefully.
Privacy Before uploading
Uploading your child’s photo to a consumer AI platform requires negotiation to understand before you start.
Per OpenAI’s privacy policy, uploaded images count as User Content. The files remain associated with an account for the retention period of the corresponding chat, per the OpenAI help documentation, but handling may vary depending on features such as library storage or custom GPTs.
OpenAI provides controls. You can opt-in to model improvement training, use Temporary Chat to keep the session out of your history (although OpenAI notes that it can keep a copy for up to 30 days for security purposes), delete conversations, and export your account data. OpenAI also requires a parent or guardian for users under 18 and provides a contact route for reports involving children under 13.
One thing this is not
Using AI to remove a watermark from a professional proof is a separate issue with different implications.
A separate practice circulating on social media involves using AI to remove watermarks from professional school photo evidence instead of buying the finished images. This is a materially different situation from the Bond-style workflow and raises copyright and licensing issues for the photographer involved; whether it is illegal depends on the contract and jurisdiction.
The workflow may reduce costs for some families. The negotiations around the accuracy of equality and children’s data are equally concrete. Understanding both before picture day is the wiser starting point, and discovering the best cameras for home photography may also be worth considering as a longer-term alternative.