AI images for Indian brands: what to check before you publish

AI image tools have made it possible for a two-person studio in Jaipur or Kochi to produce visuals that once needed a shoot. That is good news for small brands with small budgets. It also moves some responsibility onto the designer. This is general guidance, not legal advice.

Rights depend on the tool and the plan

Each image tool publishes its own terms on who may use outputs commercially, and those terms often differ between free and paid plans. They also change. Before client work, read the current terms for the tool and plan you hold, save a copy of the page, and note the date. If a campaign is large or a trademark is involved, ask a lawyer.

Do not borrow identities

Keep three things out of every prompt: living artists' names, brand logos and trade dress, and real people's names or likeness. This covers film stars and cricketers as much as illustrators. Describe the qualities you want instead: the line weight, the palette, the light.

Do not misrepresent

A generated serum bottle, plate of food or shop interior is a concept. On a product listing, a menu or an advertisement that claims to show the real thing, show the real thing. The same applies to people: never generate faces for testimonials, team pages or "happy customers".

Disclose where a platform asks

Some advertising platforms and marketplaces require AI-generated content to be labelled, and their policies are updated often. Check the current policy of each platform you publish on. Tell your client plainly which images are AI-made; it is far better said in the proposal than discovered later.

Get the Indian details right

Image models have seen far more Western kitchens, streets and breakfasts than Indian ones. Left alone they will put a croissant beside a chai-ordering app. Name the setting: "a kitchen shelf in a Chennai flat", "a steel tumbler of filter coffee", "a kurta sleeve". Then check the result against real life. Spices, sarees, jewellery and festival details are easy for a model to get confidently wrong, and customers notice.

Take care with festive and religious imagery

Diwali and wedding-season visuals perform well and deserve respect. Keep religious figures and symbols out of commercial images unless the client has asked for them and understands the context. Diyas, marigolds and warm light carry the season without risk.

Keep a log

• Tool and plan held on the date of generation
• Prompt, seed and any reference image
• Edits made afterwards
• Where the image is used
• Whether the client was told

One line per published image takes a minute and answers most questions a client will ever ask.

The Pixvault Workbook includes a client usage and licence log laid out with exactly these columns.