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Working With Images

Show AI what you mean — and get pictures back.

AI Foundations · Beginner · 10 min read · 4 quiz questions

By Ronan Liedmeier, fractional head of growth and course author · Reviewed 13 October 2026

What you will learn

  • Two directions: AI reading your images vs. AI making images
  • Upload and ask: photos, screenshots, whiteboards, receipts
  • Screenshot Q&A — the fastest way to get unstuck in any app
  • Generating images: describing what you want (subject, style, mood, format)
  • Editing conversationally: "same image, but…"

Lesson preview

Modern AI works with images in two directions: it can read what you show it (photos, screenshots, whiteboards) and it can generate new images from a description. Both are conversational — you upload or describe, then refine in plain English rather than starting over. The trick is knowing where each direction is reliable and where it still falls apart. It helps to separate these into two completely different skills that happen to live in the same chat box. The first is vision — you show the AI something (a photo, a screenshot, a scanned document) and it reads and reasons about it. The second is generation — you describe something that doesn't exist yet and the AI produces a picture of it. Most people only discover one of these and assume that's "the image feature." But they solve different problems: vision turns anything visual in your life into a question you can ask, while generation turns a description in your head into something you can actually look at, share, or print. Knowing which mode you're in matters because the failure patterns are different. Vision fails when the photo is blurry, cropped wrong, or ambiguous. Generation fails in specific, predictable ways — text, hands, exact brand details — that are worth learning up front so you're not surprised by them.

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Key terms in this module

AI image generation
AI image generation is the use of an AI model to create a new picture from a written description, or to edit an existing image by describing the change you want. You describe the subject, style and format in plain words, then refine the result in follow-up messages.
AI vision (image understanding)
AI vision is the ability of an AI model to look at an image you give it, such as a photo, screenshot, chart or scanned document, and describe it, read the text in it or answer questions about it.
Multimodal AI
Multimodal AI is AI that can work with more than one kind of input or output, such as text, images, audio and video, in the same conversation. You can show it a photo or screenshot and ask about it, or describe a picture and get one made.

Frequently asked questions

Who is "Working With Images" for?
This Beginner module in AI Foundations is for people who are new to AI tools and want practical, everyday results without jargon. It takes about 10 minutes and ends with a 4-question quiz.
Do I need to code?
No. Everything in this module works in tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini through a normal chat window.
What comes before and after this module?
Before "Working With Images", take "Capstone: Build and Document Your AI Operating System" (module 14 of AI Foundations). Afterwards, continue with "Voice & Audio".

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