AI Headshots: The Future Or A Passing Fad
Over the past three months, there’s been an explosion of interest in AI-enabled services for everything from “AI headshots” to AI accountants and AI lawyers.
ChatGPT has become the fastest growing tech product in the world.
Platforms like studio.ai, aragon.ai (referenced later), and headshotpro.com have launched AI headshot services that promise to ingest 10-20 cell phone photos and spit out a new professional headshot that looks just like you.
However, in a recent article published in the Wall Street Journal named AI-Created Images Are So Good Even AI Has Trouble Spotting Some, notable flaws started to be called out in the quality of artificial intelligence generated images.
You might wonder what we, as professional headshot photographers, think of people using AI headshots to update their LinkedIn profile photos and company websites.
While you’d think we’d be worried, after researching the competition, we have strong reason to believe AI headshots are a passing fad.
The Top 9 Reasons AI Professional Headshots Are A Fad:
1.) Skin Tone, Eyes and Hands Aren’t Realistic Yet
From a distance and at a quick glance, AI headshots may look impressive.
But incorrect skin tone, eyes, and hands are some of the easiest giveaways that your professional headshot is AI-generated.
While you may think it looks “fine”— or even preferable to real life — a fake look to your photo can be disastrous to your credibility.
Don’t forget that headshots used on ID badges, drivers license, and other profiles are the oldest and most popular forms of identification for security.
Even if AI headshots were 100 percent realistic (they’re not), don’t forget that they amount to faking or forging an identification document using a sophisticated computer.
If the employer, customer or other person viewing your headshot realizes it’s fake, they will wonder what else in your work and life you’d be willing to fake.
So how will they notice?
Skin: Currently looks rubbery and shiny. If you look at the nose, cheek and under-eye areas, you’ll notice that the skin looks almost cartoonish.
Eyes: Look too white and/or demented. You can have an over-eager or alternatively “dead in the eyes” look.
Hands: Are rendered in incorrect proportions that look creepy. You can crop them out, but you may want a “portrait”-style photo with hands showing.
This is besides the fact that engineers are working on tools to identify and flag ai-generated content.
To test these assertions, I actually tried a platform called aragon.ai, which promised to provide me with some new professional headshots.
Article written by Dan St Louis for Headshots-Inc.com.