Everyone says they that and has been before AI. What they always miss is the little word "relevant". A relevant picture can be helpful, a random picture is just distracting and annoying.
The image is there for social media shares, which grab a prominent image to put beside the link. Even if it's a bit distracting in the post, if it grabs your eye enough to click the link, then that's job done.
Links without an image are just physically smaller on Twitter or Facebook, they don't stand out as well.
I don't find it that random in a post about Postgres to show a picture of an elephant. If it had been a badger or something, then yes, but an Elephant is pretty relevant as animals go.
Links without an image are just physically smaller on Twitter or Facebook, they don't stand out as well.