The pressure of Valentine’s Day often leads to rushed purchases, but what if artificial intelligence could offer a quick, personalized alternative? One test explored how easily AI tools, specifically Photoroom, could create a custom card. The results were mixed: functional, but frustratingly imperfect.
The AI Tool: Photoroom
Photoroom, launched in 2020, uses its own AI model trained on a mix of open-source and licensed images. While a free version exists, accessing its full AI tools requires a Pro trial subscription. The platform aims to simplify card creation, but the experience proved surprisingly tedious.
Early Attempts and Design Limitations
Initial tests with pre-generated prompts yielded generic results – cliché phrases like “you make my heart smile” paired with overly saccharine designs. The AI struggled with even minor customizations. Requests to swap a heart for an infinity symbol were either ignored or resulted in design chaos. The tool seemed stuck in a “Naïve Cuteness” aesthetic, churning out endless butterflies, birds, and oddly placed cartoon animals.
The Iterative Struggle
Refining the design involved endless regeneration cycles. The AI often disregarded explicit instructions, changing fonts despite requests to keep them static, or randomly adding nonsensical text. The process highlighted a key limitation: current AI tools are poor at executing precise design changes.
A Personal Test: Realistic Imagery
To test the platform’s ability to generate something meaningful, the experiment shifted to a more personal prompt: an image of two women with a baby in New York City. The AI responded, and for the first time, listened to a text alteration request. The final result was acceptable, though still far from the nuanced expression of human creativity.
The Verdict: Imperfect but Functional
While Photoroom can produce a free, custom card faster than a trip to the store, it falls short of genuine personalization. The tool’s limitations make it more of a novelty than a replacement for thoughtful gestures. As one writer put it, no AI can match the depth of human expression —especially when compared to a handwritten poem crafted from shared memories.
In the end, AI-generated cards are a last-minute fix, not a substitute for genuine affection. Humans still have a monopoly on matters of the heart.
