GPT-5 Image Generation Issues & Top AI Art Alternatives

8/12/2025

GPT-5 Image Generation Problems: Why It's Worse & What Alternatives Work Better

What’s the deal with GPT-5's image generation? If you’ve been playing around with it, you might be feeling… underwhelmed. Honestly, you’re not alone. After all the hype, the general consensus is that when it comes to creating images, GPT-5 is a bit of a letdown.

It’s a strange situation. We all expected a huge leap forward, but for many creatives & regular users, it feels like a step back. So, what’s actually going on? Why does the image generation feel worse, & more importantly, what are the better alternatives out there right now? Let's get into it.

The Big Problem: GPT-5's Image Generation Feels Off

The launch of GPT-5 was met with a TON of anticipation. OpenAI promised a more intelligent, unified system, & in many ways, it delivered. The reasoning capabilities are stronger, it’s better at complex tasks, & it’s even supposed to be more honest when it doesn’t know something. But buried in all these upgrades is the one area that seems to have taken a hit: image generation.

Users on platforms like Reddit have been pretty vocal about their frustrations. A common complaint is that the images generated by GPT-5 are less creative, more generic, & just… bland compared to what we were getting with GPT-4. Some have even said the results are so bad it feels like a broken toy. I’ve seen people share side-by-side comparisons, & the difference is often pretty stark. GPT-4 images frequently had a certain artistic flair, a bit of unexpected creativity. GPT-5, on the other hand, seems to play it safe, often producing sterile, uninspired visuals.

Here’s the thing, it turns out that GPT-5’s core improvements weren’t really focused on the image generation model itself. From what the community has gathered, it seems the underlying image generator is still based on the same tech as before, likely a refined version of DALL-E 3. The main changes in GPT-5 were geared towards its reasoning engine, how it processes information, & its ability to handle multi-step tasks. So, while the "brain" of ChatGPT got an upgrade, the "artistic hand" was seemingly left behind.

One of the weirdest parts of this whole situation is the inconsistency. Ethan Mollick, a well-known AI researcher, pointed out that GPT-5 seems to arbitrarily decide how much "effort" to put into a task. For a simple prompt, it might use a weaker, faster model, resulting in a low-quality image. But if it deems the prompt "hard," it might switch to a more powerful reasoning model & produce something much better. The problem is, there’s no clear way to force it to use the better model every time. This randomness is a HUGE headache for anyone trying to get consistent, high-quality results.

Common Complaints About GPT-5 Image Generation

Let's break down the most common issues people are having:

Lack of Creativity & "Soul": This is the big one. The images just don't have the same spark. They feel more like stock photos than creative artworks. It's like the AI is trying so hard to be accurate that it's forgotten how to be interesting.
Worse Prompt Following: Ironic, right? For a model that’s supposed to be smarter, it often struggles with complex prompts. Users are finding that it ignores key details or mashes concepts together in nonsensical ways.
Increased Censorship & Filtering: This has been a growing issue with OpenAI's models, & it seems to have gotten even stricter with GPT-5. Many perfectly innocent prompts are getting flagged, & the AI seems overly cautious, which stifles creativity.
Inconsistent Quality: As mentioned before, the quality can be all over the place. You might get a fantastic image one minute & a completely unusable one the next, even with similar prompts. This makes it unreliable for any serious creative work.
It Just Feels "Off": This is a bit more subjective, but a lot of people feel that the aesthetic of GPT-5 images is just… weird. There’s a certain sterile, overly polished look that feels less authentic than what we were getting before.

For businesses that rely on AI for visual content, these issues are a major setback. If you need consistent, on-brand images, you can’t afford to gamble on an AI that might or might not deliver. This is where having a reliable, specialized tool becomes SO important. For instance, if you're a business looking to automate customer support with an AI chatbot, you need a platform that’s consistent & reliable. Arsturn, for example, helps businesses create custom AI chatbots trained on their own data. This ensures that the chatbot provides instant, accurate support 24/7, without the kind of randomness you see with GPT-5's image generation. It's a reminder that for business applications, specialized tools are often the way to go.

So, What's Better? The Top Alternatives for AI Image Generation

The good news is that the world of AI image generation is BIGGER than just OpenAI. There are some incredible alternatives out there, each with its own unique strengths. If you're serious about creating high-quality images, you NEED to be looking at these.

1. Midjourney: The Artist's Choice

If you’re looking for stunning, artistic, & often photorealistic images, Midjourney is the king. It has a bit of a learning curve since it operates through Discord, but the results are absolutely worth it.

Strengths: Midjourney excels at creating images with a distinct, painterly style. It’s fantastic for concept art, fantasy scenes, & anything that needs a touch of human-like artistry. The latest versions have gotten incredibly good at photorealism, to the point where it can be hard to tell the difference between a Midjourney image & a real photo.
Why it's better than GPT-5 right now: Midjourney offers a level of artistic quality & consistency that GPT-5 just can't match. You have more control over the style & composition, & the community is a fantastic resource for learning & getting inspired. While GPT-5's images often feel sterile, Midjourney's have a sense of mood & atmosphere that's truly special.

2. Stable Diffusion: The Ultimate in Customization & Control

For those who want to get their hands dirty & have complete control over the image generation process, Stable Diffusion is the answer. It’s an open-source model, which means you can run it on your own computer (if you have a powerful enough GPU) & fine-tune it to your heart's content.

Strengths: The biggest advantage of Stable Diffusion is its flexibility. You can train it on your own images to create a custom model that generates images in a specific style. There are also thousands of community-made models available, each with its own unique aesthetic. The latest version, Stable Diffusion 3, has made huge strides in prompt understanding & image quality, & it’s particularly good at generating legible text within images—something most other models struggle with.
Why it's better than GPT-5 right now: Control. With Stable Diffusion, you're not at the mercy of a company's content filters or arbitrary quality settings. You can tweak every aspect of the generation process to get the exact image you want. For businesses that need to generate on-brand content, this level of customization is invaluable. It's the difference between using a one-size-fits-all tool & having a bespoke solution.

This idea of a bespoke solution is something we believe in strongly at Arsturn. We help businesses build no-code AI chatbots that are trained on their own data. This means the chatbot can provide personalized customer experiences & boost conversions in a way that a generic chatbot never could. It's about having the right tool for the job, one that you can customize to fit your specific needs.

3. DALL-E 3 (Yes, the old one!): The Creative Storyteller

Okay, this might seem a bit weird, but for some things, the previous version of OpenAI’s image generator is still better. DALL-E 3, especially when accessed through certain platforms, is known for its incredible ability to understand & interpret complex, narrative prompts.

Strengths: DALL-E 3 shines when you give it a detailed story to work with. It's great at creating whimsical, illustrative images that feel like they've been pulled from a children's book or a graphic novel. It has a knack for capturing a sense of fun & imagination that often gets lost in the quest for photorealism.
Why it might be better than GPT-5 right now: If your goal is to create playful, imaginative visuals, DALL-E 3's "personality" is a huge asset. It feels less constrained & more willing to take creative risks. While GPT-5's image generation can feel like a stuffy academic, DALL-E 3 is more like a fun, creative partner.

The Takeaway

So, is GPT-5 a total failure? Not at all. It’s a powerful tool with some impressive new capabilities. But when it comes to image generation, it’s clear that OpenAI’s priorities were elsewhere. The hype set an expectation that the image generation would be as revolutionary as the rest of the model, & that just wasn’t the case.

For creatives, artists, & businesses, the current state of GPT-5’s image generation is a good reminder that the best tool is rarely the one that tries to do everything. Specialization is key. Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, & even older models like DALL-E 3 offer more consistent, high-quality, & controllable results for those who are serious about creating images.

And this applies to other areas of AI as well. If you’re a business looking to improve your website engagement & customer service, you wouldn’t want a general-purpose AI that might give inconsistent answers. You’d want a specialized tool like Arsturn, which lets you build a custom AI chatbot that provides instant, reliable support 24/7. It’s all about finding the right tool for your specific needs.

I hope this was helpful in clearing up some of the confusion around GPT-5. It’s a fascinating time in the world of AI, & things are changing at a dizzying pace. It’ll be interesting to see how OpenAI responds to this feedback & what the future holds for their image generation models.

Let me know what you think! Have you had similar experiences with GPT-5? What are your go-to AI image generators?