A friend sent me an advertisement for AI-generated headshots recently, and I was surprised by how good the images looked. It got me thinking about the future of headshot photography.
The images in the advertisement were much better than any I have seen so far, which is to be expected. The question many of us continue to ask is, should we as photographers be worried? The answer is, of course, yes. And there are too many industries to count that are beginning to understand that artificial intelligence is going to have a major impact on their businesses. I've been bullish on this topic since it became a concern, and I still remain optimistic. I also understand that, as business owners, we need to constantly monitor the trends in our industry and make sure we change with the times, regardless of the impact of artificial intelligence.
I still believe that hope is not lost, however, and in this YouTube video, I give you five tips to help you "AI-proof" your headshot photography business. The video has a bit of tough love in it, but overall, the message is positive and hopefully reassuring and helpful to those of you who are not only worried about AI but also looking for ways to grow your business. Let me know what you think about my perspective in the comments below, and enjoy the video.
If AI does become capable enough to replace a real photographer, I do believe the first area to fall will be headshots. It's hard to image AI being able to cover an event or create wedding images. AI headshots are pretty bad today, but it's easy to imagine that it will eventually become good enough to produce at least one image that a person finds usable as a profile pic for social media.
I think being unique is key, soooooo many people right now are just clones of a certain headshot guy who has his "crew" For me most of my work is for large corps and typically I have a "look" from them that I need to match, so all there global offices match. I worry everyday that headshots are going away, they are such nice bread and butter thing for my studio in between larger gigs. Ai is going to destroy entire industries, we are moving to fast toward something that is going to be a real probably for the economy real soon.