Remove placeholder from core/image in InnerBlocks template

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. You could use editor.BlockEdit hook to change default core/image Edit component, and copy the code from current trunk version, and change there to not use MediaPlaceholder, but MediaUpload wrapped in MediaUploadCheck. However, that would create problem that all core/image blocks would be changed and it would not be futureproof, since code that you copied may change over time. You can solve the former by testing using getBlockParents selector and if immediate parent (0 element of array) is your block that change only that instance in the filter.

However, I would create another block and use inside its edit:

<MediaUploadCheck>
  <MediaUpload />
</MediaUploadCheck>

to automatically open image uploader. This block would be instead of core/image in your template.