Sure but use a real photo and someone will come with a copyright claim. The AI photo is the safest option.
How about not using a photo at all if it’s not relevant to the article?
It's not even that hard to make AI output images that don't look like AI slop either, just have to use some "in the style of" or "as if it was taken with a film camera" types of modifiers. This is what confuses me about AI slop, not only did you use the lowest effort method, you didn't even put a minimal amount of effort into making it work well.
It's genuinely triggering rage to see this on a "serious" article.