Why you shouldn’t let AI create your executive headshot.
AI can code. AI can write (sort of). AI can even whip up a picture of an executive with a Superman physique riding a bull down Wall Street. But authentic executive headshots? Yeah… No. AI is not built for that. Not yet. Here’s the thing: Humans have nuance. To AI, that's a dreade prompt. Nuance is the little spark in your eye that says, “I’m confident but not arrogant.” It’s the way you lean just slightly forward to look approachable while still exuding authority. AI doesn't get nuance. It get pixels. You smile, it makes it bigger. You want to look "fresher," it make you look like a plastic figurine. I've heard countless stories of people paying $29 for an AI headshot, hoping to look like a CEO, and suddenly they’re rocking an extra thumb and a "smile" that looks both manic AND psychotic. On a serious note, the human eye is more nuanced than the "AI eye," and quickly recognizes and pulls away from artifice. And consider this, while your short-term ego may be appeased, you will fall flat if you look radically different in your executive portrait than you do in person. People will perceive you as inauthentic, or insecure, or untrustworthy. AI also struggles with racial and ethnic bias. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, while adept at recognizing objects, AI struggles with accurately representing diverse individuals. People of color have reported unsettling alterations to their appearances, particularly in hairstyles and facial features. An algorithm is still incapable of feeling. I think it will always be incapable of real feeling. But if it could feel, I think it would resent photographers. We get to talk to people, makes them laugh, ease their nerves, form connections, and then—bam—capture a photo that makes you look like the best version of yourself. Confident, real, and polished without being plastic. While AI is sitting, alone, in the cloud, spitting out images that look like Madame Tussauds meets Photoshop on a sugar rush.And remember, that while we all want to look out best, vanity can be the enemy when creating professional images. Yes, we all wish we had no lines, perfectly smooth skin, a stronger jaw line, whiter and straighter teeth, thicker and shiner hair, contoured features and a cure for any dysmorphic feelings, presenting an inaccurate and stylized version of ourselves fails in two ways: Firstly it exacerbates a lack of self acceptance, and secondly, it makes you seem like a phony to potential clients. So, get off of that cheesy AI headshot generator and …get real. At Dolin Photo, there is one goal, which is to make you look beautifully, wonderfully, compellingly HUMAN. AI can't do that. Although I do strongly recommend using it if you're looking to create an image of dachshund with a lightsaber. 
AI render of hands. Very Artificial. Not so much Intelligence.
