Amazon is swapping out seller main images for AI generated ones. Live in search
By Kamaljit Singh Amazon · October 23, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Amazon is swapping out seller main images for AI generated ones.
Live in search results.
I saw it when Talal Asad posted a SERP screenshot in a seller group. Every main image in a body scrub search was a lifestyle photo.
Here's what actually bugs me about it.
Amazon's own rule for main images is pure white. RGB 255, 255, 255.
Everybody knows this rule. Plenty of us have had a listing suppressed over it.
And now Amazon's AI is generating bathroom scenes and pushing them live as main images.
So what's the rule now?
If lifestyle main images are fine, say so and update the guidelines.
If they're not fine, stop generating them.
You can't enforce it on us and ignore it yourself.
Then there's the quality.
Honestly, if Amazon was making these images BETTER I'd shut up. I'd say thank you.
They're not better.
The product gets smaller in the frame.
The white background turns into this pale grey, so you lose contrast against the SERP, which is also white.
And the packaging text goes soft. On mobile at thumbnail size you can't read it.
Smaller, less contrast, less legible. Three things that all hurt CTR.
That's not optimizing anything. It's just worse.
Brands spent real money on those photos. At least they should take consent from the brand owners before changing their images.
And if you have a main image experiment running right now, I have no idea how they're handling that.
I'm still investigating what type of images are being replaced by Amazon's AI images. If I find something I'll share it on LinkedIn here.