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YES

As of 13 August 2026, AI can write image alt text for your website.

This still needs a person who signs their name to it.

Can you do it?

5 minutesto a draft.

15 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill needednone

Who has to check ityou

What the alternative costsThe supplied tools data lists no price for a human alt-text service, so no pounds comparison is provided.

If this goes wrong: the description is inaccurate or misses the image's purpose, and you can correct the alt text before or after publishing.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

  2. Do it yourself

    Second choice

    A chat interface, no skill needed, and roughly 15 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the page where the image will appear and note the page purpose, nearby copy, caption and any link or button destination.
    2. Collect the original image files and remove any private or confidential images that are not needed for the task.
    3. Open an image-capable chatbot and paste the supplied prompt with the page and image context filled in, then upload the image.
    4. Ask for a separate recommendation for each image if you are processing more than one, keeping each image's page context with it.
    5. Compare every draft with the image and the surrounding page, correcting invented details and checking that the wording explains the image's purpose rather than merely listing objects.
    6. For images that are decorative or already fully explained by nearby text, confirm the recommendation with the person responsible for your site's accessibility, then enter the alt text or empty alt attribute in your content management system.
    7. Preview the page with the image unavailable or with a screen reader check, and correct any alt text that does not make sense in that context before publishing.

    Prompt

    Write accurate website alt text for the image I provide.

Page purpose: [describe what the page helps the visitor do]
Image purpose: [explain why this image is on the page]
Nearby text or caption: [paste any relevant text]
Link or button destination, if relevant: [describe it]

First decide whether the image should have meaningful alt text or an empty alt attribute because it is decorative. If it needs meaningful alt text, write one concise sentence that conveys what matters to someone who cannot see the image. Include visible text only when it is relevant. Do not start with "image of" or "picture of". Do not guess names, brands, locations, measurements or other details that are not clearly supported by the image or context. Do not add SEO keywords that are not relevant. Return:
1. Recommended alt text, or "Decorative: use an empty alt attribute"
2. One short reason
3. Any detail I must confirm before publishing

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

  3. Use a tool built for this

    The distant third

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot know why an image is on your page unless you provide the page context.
  • AI cannot reliably decide whether an image is decorative when the page purpose and surrounding content are unclear.
  • AI may invent readable details, names or relationships from an ambiguous image.
  • AI cannot take responsibility for the accessibility of the finished website.
  • AI cannot replace a check of how the alt text works alongside the page's headings, captions and links.

Even on a YES, the friction has a name: context depth and verification cost.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output2
Inputs2
Verification1
Liability2
Effort delta2
Total9 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can ChatGPT write alt text for images?
Yes. Give it the image, the page purpose and the image's role, then check the draft against both the image and the surrounding page before publishing.
What should I include in AI alt text?
Include what a visitor needs to understand from the image in that specific page context. Do not add guesses, irrelevant visual details or search keywords, and do not begin with "image of".
Can AI tell me if an image is decorative?
It can make a useful recommendation, but it cannot know the image's role from pixels alone. Check whether nearby text already provides the same information and confirm uncertain cases with whoever manages your site's accessibility.
Is AI-generated alt text good for SEO?
Relevant, accurate alt text can support understanding of the page, but it is not a place to add unrelated keywords. Write for people who cannot see the image first, and check every claim before publishing.

Nearby answers

All SEO & website copy rulings

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

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