WordPress – How to Generate Featured Images using AI

In this tutorial, we will show you how to automatically generate featured images for WordPress posts using AI. You will learn the easiest way to create eye-catching featured images with artificial intelligence. This will completely simplify your WordPress blog workflow and save you a lot of time.

A featured image on WordPress is the main image that represents your post. It helps attract readers and gives your content a professional look. However, finding or designing the perfect image for each post can be time-consuming and challenging, especially if you need high-quality visuals that match your content’s theme. Manually creating featured images for every post could take you many hours, requiring creativity and effort beyond just writing your posts.

Fortunately, WP Sheet Editor – AI is your best companion for generating featured images using artificial intelligence. You can quickly generate visually appealing and relevant featured images that perfectly match the content of your WordPress posts.

What you need to generate WordPress images with AI

To create featured images for your WordPress posts using generative AI, you need the following essentials:

1- WP Sheet Editor – Post Types

With this plugin, you can view and manage WordPress posts, pages and custom post types in a spreadsheet. It simplifies your workflow with advanced search, bulk edit, export, and import tools.

2- WP Sheet Editor – AI

WP Sheet Editor – AI is a WordPress AI assistant tool that allows you to connect with your favorite AI providers and integrate the use of generative AI to every WP Sheet Editor spreadsheet. You can easily create and edit WordPress content in bulk with just a few clicks.

3- External API provider

The AI functionality in WP Sheet Editor relies on an external API from AI providers like OpenAI, OpenRouter, etc. You’ll need an account with the provider and an API key to connect.

WP Sheet Editor – AI is compatible with these AI providers:

  • Open AI for text and images (more info here)
  • OpenRouter (more info here)
  • Any other provider that uses the same format as OpenAI.

Follow this guide to learn how to set up AI providers in WP Sheet Editor – AI.

Once you’ve set up everything, you can start generating WordPress post images using generative AI.

Set up AI image generation provider and model

Let’s see how to set up an AI image generation provider and model.

To do this, we need to go to WP Sheet Editor > AI > Settings > Settings.

Once there, you need to add a new provider by clicking on Add new provider and selecting these values:

  • Provider: OpenAI (image)
  • Model ID: You can use:
    • Dall-e-3 (better, more expensive)
    • Dall-e-2 (cheaper)
  • API Name (Optional): You can leave this field empty, it will be autofilled when you save the changes.
  • API key: Add your OpenAI image API key here.
  • Model context: Add the amount of tokens that you want to send to the model in a request.
  • Tick Image generation.
  • Click on Save.

wordpress-generate-featured-images-ai

Once you have set up your AI image generation model, you’re ready to start generating post images.

Open the WordPress posts spreadsheet

To view and manage your WordPress posts in the spreadsheet, you need to go to WP Sheet Editor > Edit posts.

wordpress-generate-featured-images-ai

Set up prompt template for image generation

Important: When generating images in spreadsheet cells, the AI needs a context to know what kind of images it is going to create or the ideas that the images should reflect. By default, we send the cells that have content as the context for generating images (title, post content, etc.). But if you want to be more specific and even save tokens for image generation, you can reference a specific field from which the AI will take the context to generate the featured images. For example, you can establish that the images in your posts are generated using the post excerpt as context. To do this, let’s edit the image generation prompt template.

Go to Settings > Advanced Settings > AI. Once there, you can add a prompt like this in the Prompt template for image generation in cells field:

Generate an image based on the $Excerpt$

Note: You can customize this prompt to reference any other field like Title, Content, SEO Description, SEO Keyword, or any other field.

Once you do that, click on Save.

wordpress-generate-featured-images-ai

Optional: Search for all posts missing featured image

If you want to work only with WordPress posts that do not have a featured image, you can easily filter them using the Search tool.

wordpress-generate-featured-images-ai

Once you’re in the search tool, tick the Enable advanced filters checkbox and select these values:

  • Field: Featured Image
  • Operator: =
  • Value: Leave this field empty.

Once you have selected the necessary values, click on Run search.

wordpress-generate-featured-images-ai

Once you have filtered all the posts missing the featured image, they will be displayed in the spreadsheet. You’ll see the active search filters above the spreadsheet.

wordpress generate featured images with ai

Now you’re ready to start generating featured images using artificial intelligence. To do this, you have some options.

Option 1: Generate featured images with AI in the spreadsheet cells

The first way you can use artificial intelligence to generate images for your WordPress posts is to enter this prompt in the cells of the Featured Image column:

ai:image

With this simple shortcut you will use the prompt we set up earlier to generate images in the spreadsheet cells.

wordpress generate featured images with ai

The AI will start working to generate the image. You’ll see a loading icon in the cell.

wordpress generate featured images with ai

Once the image has been generated, you can hover over the cell and WP Sheet Editor will show you a floating preview.

wordpress generate featured images with ai

You can paste the same prompt in multiple cells to generate images in bulk.

wordpress-generate-featured-images-ai

Once you have generated all the featured images for your posts, you need to Save the changes.

wordpress-generate-featured-images-ai

Option 2: Bulk generate post images using generative AI

If you want to generate multiple images for your WordPress posts, you can do it using the Bulk Edit tool, which allows you to edit any field in hundreds of posts at once.

In this case, it allows you to create featured images automatically using artificial intelligence.

wordpress-generate-featured-images-ai

Once you’re in the Bulk Edit tool, you need to select these values to bulk create featured images with AI:

  • Select the rows that you want to update: Edit all the rows from my current search, in this case.
  • What field do you want to edit: Featured image
  • Select type of edit: AI image generation
  • AI Provider: Select your image generation AI provider.
  • Prompt: You can use this prompt:
    • Generate image based on the $post_excerpt$
  • Optional – You can click on Show preview to see a preview before saving the changes.
  • Click on Execute Now.

wordpress generate featured images with ai

As you can see, we have bulk created AI featured images for our WordPress posts.

wordpress generate featured images with ai

Using AI generated images for our WordPress posts is great, as it allows us to create unique images for our WordPress blog, which reflect the main idea of our posts. Image generation with AI is now simple with WP Sheet Editor – AI, and it makes you highly productive and ensures consistency throughout your WordPress blog.

Do you need help?

You can receive instant help in the live chat during business hours, or you can contact us and we will help you via email.