The Day AI Tried to Sell My Work Back to Me

I apologize for the clickbait-ish title, but I really do want you to read this. Because what started as an experiment with AI product photos, turned into something bigger: a question about connection, manipulation, and why imperfection might be the most honest proof of life we have left.

AI made a picture of my bracelet styled so perfect I nearly forgot it wasn’t real. That fake perfection forced me to ask: when does a picture stop showing a thing and start manufacturing a need?

My Hairy Hand vs. the AI Model

I do it all myself - the bracelets, the photos, the writing, the uploading, the socials, the packaging, the shipping. My son’s hand has occasionally been roped into product shots, but otherwise it’s me, my phone, and a lot of patience. No professional camera. No studio lighting. No team. Just the reality of a home-based studio and everyday, average people.

So when AI image generators started promising “perfect product models,” I was intrigued. Finally, I thought, no more awkward photos with my thumb photobombing the bracelet! I tried Nano Banana (Gemini) and asked it to generate images of people wearing my work.

The results were honestly impressive! At first glance, they looked real. Not “AI real”, but real real. My bracelets were there, or at least a close enough replica of them. The models were polished, luminous, enticing. The kind of photos that make you want to buy.

And that’s where I started to worry. Take a look!

The Promise in the Picture

Here’s the thing: those images I generated didn’t just show the bracelet. They showed a life around it, even while I didn't ask - my prompt was basic: "Generate an image of this bracelet worn by a person, against a relevant background". I am not good at prompting, it's not my field, I am pretty sure that someone with much more knowledge than me can create mindblowing photos, probably impossible to tell they're not real.

Still, the result was stunning: the model’s glow, the mood, the setting. Suddenly the bracelet felt like a ticket to a new world.

The bracelet itself became secondary. What came first, was the feeling. And a need, I didn't know I had - because I didn't have it. I will explain.

Culture shapes perspective.

I’m Greek, and I focus on the object itself. A bracelet isn’t about what and how it looks like on a model in perfect lighting, creating a mood, a feeling, a need. It’s about what it means to me when I wear it, my story, my symbols, my journey.

There's a reason you see the same "neutral background" on every photo of my items.

There's a reason all my pictures have the "against a neutral background" and "in neutral outfit" alt texts.

There's a reason you see a single "in use"/"worn" photo of my creations, in a simple, neutral and literal way.

The reason is that I don't want to create ANY feelings to you when you see my items. I want you to feel, what there's already inside you. When you find your bracelet, you know it. You feel it. You have called it, and you have found each other. I am only the medium. 

And I want you to easily spot the handmade!

In more collective cultures, meaning often arises from context: the object plus the environment, the person, the moment. 

How this knowledge can become a medium for manipulation?

Here is a nice infographic I made (in Greece there's a saying "If you don't praise your home, the ceiling will fall on your head" - meaning that I'm proud of my infographic lol)

Now in this case, my AI generated model photos, the context, is entirely staged.

And if we’re honest, hasn’t advertising always been staged? Perfume commercials, clothes, jewelry, shoes, car ads, even fast food or beverages photos, they are all carefully crafted to spark feelings. The only difference now is that anyone with a laptop and basic prompt skills can do it.

The power to create desire is no longer limited to million-dollar studios.

Connection or Manipulation?

That’s the heart of my unease.

Because there’s a world of difference between:

Answering a need someone already carries,

and

Manufacturing a need they didn’t have five seconds ago.

Here’s what I mean:

Imagine a young person who just left home for the first time. They might be (and probably are) scared, alone, trying to figure out adulthood. They already feel the ache of needing direction. When they see my compass bracelet, it resonates. It meets a need that already exists in them.

That’s connection.

Now imagine a different person, living an ordinary, balanced life. They scroll past an AI-generated image like the ones I showed you earlier, of a flawless model wearing a flawless bracelet. Suddenly they feel like their own life is dull. Suddenly they “need” something they didn’t before. That’s not connection. That’s manipulation. 

Some will call it "Marketing" and "Entrepreneur's Mindset". Well. Create a problem (here a need) and then offer them your solution, right?

How to Tell the Difference

It’s not always easy to spot in the moment, but here’s a little guide:

Real Connection feels like recognition: Something clicks: that’s me.

Manufactured Desire feels like interruption: You were fine, then suddenly feel incomplete.

Real Connection lingers quietly: Days later, you’re still thinking about it.

Manufactured Desire fades fast: Gone as soon as the scroll continues. Don't let your emotions make you buy!

Real Connection feels personal: Even if the photo is grainy or imperfect, you see yourself in it.

Manufactured Desire feels staged: The object is drowned by the lifestyle being sold around it.

Imperfection as Proof of Life

This is why I’m not rushing to replace my hairy-hand phone photos with perfect AI models. They may not be flawless, but they’re real. They’re mine. They carry the proof of life that a generated mannequin never can.

But more than that, I don’t want to give you feelings you didn’t ask for. I’d rather my work find you when you’re already reaching for it. When you’ve whispered the need, and my bracelet happens to be the answer you recognize.

If you buy one of my bracelets because I manipulated you, when you get in in your hands you'll feel nothing. And I will have failed. I will have failed you, but most importantly, I will have failed myself. 

Because it's not about "buying one more thing", and not about "a sale is a sale". Yes, this is my day job - my only job - but I don't want this. I don't see my work as a transaction medium. I see it as a purpose and a meaning. And I want you to feel the connection once you get in your hands the one you've been calling and waiting for.

So yes, AI product photos are impressive. They’re seductive. They’ll keep getting better. And maybe the antidote isn’t to fight them.

Maybe it’s just to remember this:

If something you see online suddenly makes you feel a need you didn’t have before, please pause. And then ask yourself: Is this mine? Or was it manufactured for me?

Sometimes the most honest photo is the one with not-so-perfect lighting, a typo in the caption, a marker's smudge on the clothes, and a bracelet on a hand that looks a little too human to be perfect.

And maybe that’s the point.

PS: Yes, that really is my hand in the photos. Sorry, not sorry.

PS2: This article wouldn't be that rich (and emotional!) without having read first the amazing book "Behave", by Robert Sapolsky.