I saw this ad on my social media feed and it inspired me for this blog post. I notice extremes in advertising – either it’s very, very good (and some are great, like Apple’s 1984 Macintosh commercial that debuted during that year’s Super Bowl) or it’s a head scratcher . . . why did they do that?! In this case, it is the latter.

Sure, the AI-generated headshot looks sleek and professional but it is not the actual person. I suppose the company thought, hey, let’s get a grainy, bad cellphone quality picture as the “before” and we will really wow them with the “after.” Except if that was the tactic, while there is a difference in quality, the believability factor is missing. Different hair, different face, even different age.

Can You Trust this Person?

Can you imagine if you were in charge of interviewing candidates and you saw the headshot first – and then in walked that fellow? Would you think he was doing some “bait and switch?” That’s would send up red flags for me because any relationship – whether personal or business – should have a strong foundation in trust. There are plenty of jokes about people using “enhanced” pictures of themselves in dating apps – but really, there shouldn’t be any in your professional career.

Is It to Good to Be True?

There is an interesting psychological theory called the Uncanny Valley Theory. In a nutshell, it is the relation between a resemblance to the human form and the emotional impact it has on the viewer – as you try to make things more “human” a real human senses something is off and, frankly, starts getting a little freaked out. It’s too real. It’s eerie. We don’t like it. We show more human empathy when dealing with something not working so hard to try to convince us that it’s human. A robot that is clearly a robot is liked more but the ones that have the technology to mimic facial expressions and the nuances of human speech? Yeah, those make us nervous. Shades of Sarah Connor!

AI generated faces can do that as well. Look again at the picture. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Does it appear he has one? His gaze is not meeting your eyes. The smile is not genuine – in fact, it seems almost a smirk and a little smug that it is getting away with being “human” when that is not the reality. Few people have symmetrical faces – but his is. If I saw that come across my desk, I would be approaching the precipice of the uncanny valley.

Given the unique names in their client testimonials, I figured it would be easy to find some of these people. Looking up some of the names and images associated with them, I found this gentleman with his pictures in several places (and yes, tied back to his business, this is not a stock image).

Which is giving you the vibe that something is off? If I had to guess, Number 3 is the real deal – and was used to generate Number 2. Wait a minute – “used to generate?” What does that mean?

How Does an AI-Generated Headshot Work?

I went and looked at this company’s website. The first claim I saw was this:

Get high-quality professional corporate business headshots in minutes. No photographer needed. The best part? It’s 10x cheaper than a physical photoshoot.

BUT . . .

Your Mileage May Vary

The company explained how it is done.

InstaHeadshots uses your own photos to train a custom AI model that represents your appearance and can then generate your headshots in various styles and clothing. The quality of the generated headshots is highly dependent on the pictures you upload. You should try to have as many different perspectives on your face, eyes, looking at these from different angles. Each picture should represent something new about your appearance and facial features. The things that are constant from picture to picture (glasses, facial hair) will get reinforced and will show up in the generated headshots. Once you upload the pictures, the AI model can take between 45 minutes to 2 hours to train. Once the training is completed, your headshots are generated using the newly trained model. (emphasis added)

So good results require good input to begin (or, as I would say back in my programming days, garbage in, garbage out). How many cellphone pictures do you have that offer “different perspectives” of your face - AND in good light? How many are taken with a pair of sunglasses on or another face very closely placed to yours? How many professional pictures do you have that are recent or would you be training the algorithm on what you looked like 10 years ago?

So, this seems to suggest if you want to get good and realistic results, your best bet is to provide the company with a headshot taken by a professional photographer. Then heck, why not go to a professional photographer and in the words of a famous 21st century American philospoher, git’r done?

How many pictures will you need?

To get the best results, upload a minimum of 12 photos of yourself or the person you're generating headshots for. Please make sure that the uploaded pictures ONLY features the person whose headshots are being generated. Remember, the more photos you provide, the better. For optimal results, select a diverse range of images featuring the person in different outfits, various locations, and under various lighting conditions.

Phew, that’s a lot of work to gather that many pictures and with the variations suggested. How much is your time worth? Seems to me spending 30 minutes with me (and experiencing my sterling wit) is at least fun.

Does This Mean It Shouldn’t Be Used?

I can see some situations where this would be handy, especially if time is of the essence and you simply do not have a moment to spare to come to my studio. I think what anyone might want to consider is what is their profession and to what extent you could compromise your reputation if someone thought your headshot was “AI-generated” – a term some people shorten simply to “faked.”

If you have a back office position without a lot of interface with the public – say, a company’s HR director – this might be ideal. On the other hand, if this is the face you are presenting to clients with whom you would have a fiduciary relationship – oncologist, psychiatrist, attorney, financial advisor – you might want to be “real” because you want to ensure people can trust you.

Let me leave you with this thought: when I do a headshot with a client, I engage with them. We chat, we laugh, we start forming a relationship, albeit short in duration, so that their facial expressions reflect a genuine interaction with another human being. Can that be replicated by a machine?

Well, we know people who don’t seem authentic when they smile at us or make conversation. We pick up on cues naturally, primed as we have been by eons of evolutionary behavior with one another – and when those cues are missing, we fall into the uncanny valley. We sense something is just not right. Our gut is sending us red flags.

Is that what someone may do with your AI-generated headshot?

Sour Grapes As a Photographer?

“Aw, Steph, you just don’t like to see business taken away from you, that’s the real complaint here, innit?”

No, for the simple fact that everyone cannot be my client. If someone thinks an AI-generated headshot is good enough or a great deal for the money (as an example, this company promises “40 HD headshots” available in “2 styles,” whatever that means, for just $39), I say that I am glad they have found their satisfaction. It may well be the best choice for that person.

But for as much as I hear someone say that AI will replace photography, I just do not believe that. Maybe corporate headshots is a proper application for AI but you are not going to trust a machine to take pictures of you and your soon-to-be spouse, also give it pictures of your dress and your venue, and have it “create” your wedding photography. Or your child’s first birthday. Or your dog. For some business folk they ARE their brand and they are more comfortable putting the “real deal” out there, working with a skilled photographer.

Different strokes for different folks, eh? By the way, with regard to my blog here, no AI-generation for my prose, it comes straight from my thoughts. I do my own stunts!