A strange disease has been spreading in the world of artificial intelligence — it seems that images generated by ChatGPT and several other models are exhibiting the symptoms of jaundice by having attained a noticeable yellowish tint.

Why have some AI images been distinctly yellow recently? What seems to be the problem, and what are the ways to fix this? Let's look into the bizarre trend.

Why Do Some AI Images Have A Yellow Tint?

There has not yet been any extensive research into the reason why some AI-generated images have a noticeable yellow hue or tint to them, but people involved with the AI field have been sharing some suspicions as the phenomenon gets more attention.

Firstly, biases in training datasets (the sets of images AIs are trained upon) are known to affect image-generation models.

For example, one such trend reported in 2024 by Flitto DataLab is a bias for the combination of orange and teal tones in images generated by AI models, and by Midjourney, in particular.

According to the analysis, the bias was likely caused by an existing overrepresentation of this particular combination in images that were used in training, as it is also quite popular in human-made art. The combo of these complementary colors is quite pleasing to the human eye.

As the yellowish tint started coming up in discussions pertaining to AI art two months ago, participants of these discussions suggested that another dataset bias could also be the reason for that.

Two possible contributors are naturally yellow-tinted photographs made during the so-called "golden hour" when the sun is low in the sky, and naturally yellowish hues that appear in old art and photographs as they age.

Some also surmised that the unwarranted tendency could be stemming from the recent popularity of the so-called "Ghibli AI Trend," but these speculations are yet to find supporting evidence.

What Do People Think About The Yellow Tint In AI Art?

First reported on Reddit in March 2025, the bias for yellow tint in images generated by AI models, and by ChatGPT, in particular, remained the subject of niche subreddits.

However, in mid-May, a user quoted an explicitly yellow AI-generated meme with the caption, "Why are AI images getting more and more yellow?" and that's when people really started to notice that something was off.

In less than a week, the yellow tint became recognized as a telltale feature of AI art — and of AI-generated memes, memes that would normally have black text on a white background.

Considering the amount of flak anything AI-related gets on X / Twitter, the bias soon became a subject of memes, with people drawing comparisons to the Mexico Filter and its less-known, yet even more fitting brother.

How To Remove Yellow Tint From AI Images

Now you might be asking, "Is there a way to fix the issue until AI companies find a permanent solution?" The most straightforward way to get rid of the yellow tint is to include prompts that prevent this from happening in the first place.

Another solution is to use image-editing software. Photoshop is the most obvious suggestion, but anything that allows for hue correction will do.

Finally, two tools designed specifically to tackle the issue were released in the past two months: the free Yellowtint.art and the freemium UnYellowGPT.

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For the full history of AI Art Becoming Yellow, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.