Pihlfelt Image Assistant – AI Alt Text & Image Optimization

Description

Pihlfelt Image Assistant gives you one place to fix the two things most media libraries get wrong: missing alt text and oversized images.

Metadata management

• Instant overview: filter your library by missing alt text, missing title, oversized dimensions or heavy file size
• Inline editing of alt text, title, caption and description — right in the list, no page reloads
• 10 free AI-generated alt texts per month (opt-in, see External Services below)
• AI suggestions understand context: the file name and, if you enable it, the title of the page or product where the image is used
• Works in your language — alt text is generated in the site language by default, with per-run override
• CSV export and import for bulk editing or translation workflows

Image optimization

• Scale oversized originals down to a sensible maximum (default 2560 px — the same limit WordPress core uses for “big images”)
• Compress JPEG/PNG with a quality you choose per run — with a never-heavier guarantee: if the result would be larger, the original is kept
• Generate WebP versions and optionally serve them automatically via <picture> markup
• Optionally scale, compress and create WebP for new uploads automatically — set it once, every upload arrives optimized
• Automatic backup before every destructive action — undo one step or restore the untouched original at any time
• All bulk actions run live in the list with per-image progress; background work (scanning, CSV import) runs via Action Scheduler

Safe by design

• Nothing is ever sent to an external server without your explicit opt-in consent
• Backups are kept forever by default; automatic pruning is opt-in
• Settings are defaults, not commands — every action asks for its parameters when you run it

Pro

Pihlfelt Image Assistant Pro adds AI for all metadata fields, bulk AI for the whole library, AI file-name suggestions on upload, server-side optimization with dedicated image binaries (mozjpeg/pngquant), and priority support. Plans start at $69/year.

External Services

The optional AI features connect to api.pihlfelt.se, a service operated by the plugin author (Pihlfelt). This is what you should know before enabling them:

When data is sent: Only when you actively run an AI action (a single image or a bulk run you start yourself), and only after you have accepted the consent dialog shown on first use. Nothing is ever sent automatically or in the background. All other plugin features work entirely locally without any external connection.

What is sent:

• The image you request metadata for
• The image file name
• If enabled in the settings: the title of the page/post (or WooCommerce product) where the image is used, and the existing alt text as context
• A pseudonymized site identifier (a one-way hash — the service cannot derive your email address or domain from it), used to enforce the free monthly quota
• For Pro users: the license key, to verify the plan and quota

How it is processed: Images are processed in memory and never stored on the server. The image is forwarded to OpenAI (as a sub-processor) for the actual image analysis via their API, under terms that exclude use for model training. Usage logs (request counts, timestamps, site identifier) are kept for quota management and abuse prevention.

Server-side optimization (Pro): works the same way — the image is optimized in memory, returned, and never stored.

Privacy policy: https://pihlfelt.se/integritetspolicy