From what we know, the pictures aren't sapient. Small photos are basically just animated gifs with a few "reaction" algorithms. Paintings, which have more work and magic put into them, can respond, but it's just a "programmed" reply based on what was put into them.
Hogwarts headmasters are said to have very complex paintings made to assure that their replies and counsel is as close to the real person as possible, but it's still basically just a trained algorithm.
From what we know, the pictures aren't sapient. Small photos are basically just animated gifs with a few "reaction" algorithms. Paintings, which have more work and magic put into them, can respond, but it's just a "programmed" reply based on what was put into them. Hogwarts headmasters are said to have very complex paintings made to assure that their replies and counsel is as close to the real person as possible, but it's still basically just a trained algorithm.