AI headshots are everywhere now.
You have probably seen them already. The strangely perfect skin. The plastic-looking suit. The mystery office background.
The teeth that look like they have been rented from a Colgate advert. The hands that may or may not belong to a human being.
At first glance, some of them look quite impressive. Polished, sharp, professional enough. The sort of image that might make someone think, “That’ll do for LinkedIn.”
But give it a few seconds and something starts to feel off.
The eyes don’t quite connect. The expression feels slightly empty. The face is too smooth. The lighting doesn’t make sense.
The clothes look like something generated by a machine that has heard of tailoring, but never actually worn a jacket.
And that’s before you meet the person in real life and realise they look nothing like their headshot.
That’s where the problem starts.
Because your headshot has one very simple job. It helps people decide whether they trust you.
Before they meet you, before they speak to you, before they click, book, hire, enquire, or reply, they’re already forming an impression. That impression might only take a second, but it matters.
A good headshot says, “This is me. This is what you can expect.”
An AI headshot often says, “Here’s a polished version of someone who may or may not exist.”
That might sound harsh, but I think it matters.
We live in a world where people are already being asked to make decisions with less real human contact. We buy from websites. We book calls with strangers. We decide whether someone looks credible from a profile photo, a short bio, and a few lines of copy.
In that world, trust isn’t a nice extra. Trust is everything.
And trust starts to wobble a little the second your photo looks fake.
It might look polished for half a second, but once people spot that it is AI, the question changes. It’s no longer, “Do I trust this person?” It becomes, “What else are they pretending?”
That’s the bit people underestimate.
A headshot isn’t just decoration. It’s not a little badge you stick on your profile because LinkedIn wants a picture.
Your headshot is part of your reputation. It sits on your website, your social media, your email signature, your speaker bio, your press profile, your proposal documents, and sometimes even your book cover.
It turns up long before you do.
So if that image is fake, or heavily misleading, you’re starting the relationship with a small but important problem.
You’re asking people to trust a version of you that doesn’t really exist.
And yes, I know the arguments in favour of AI headshots. They’re quick. They’re cheap. You don’t have to stand in front of a camera. You don’t have to worry about what to wear. You don’t have to deal with the horror of wondering what to do with your hands.
I get it.
Being photographed can feel awkward. Most people don’t wake up excited about having a camera pointed at them. But avoiding that discomfort by creating a fake version of yourself isn’t the answer.
Because a good portrait isn’t about making you look younger, thinner, smoother, richer, or more important. It’s about making you look like someone people would actually want to meet.
Real. Approachable. Professional. Alive.
That doesn’t mean your headshot has to be brutally honest in the worst possible lighting. Nobody needs passport photo energy on their website. A professional portrait should still be flattering. It should use good light, good direction, careful posing, proper editing, and a bit of thought.
But flattering isn’t the same as fake.
A good photographer will help you look like yourself on a very good day. Not like an AI-generated executive who has just been assembled from stock photos, LinkedIn clichés, and a suspicious amount of skin smoothing in Photoshop.
There’s a big difference.
Real portraits carry small human details. A proper expression. A bit of warmth in the eyes. Texture in the face. Clothing that actually fits. A posture that belongs to the person rather than a template. These things might seem small, but they are what make a portrait believable.
And believability matters.
Especially if you work in a field where trust is part of the job.
If you’re a consultant, coach, adviser, designer, photographer, therapist, solicitor, accountant, creative, founder, speaker, or small business owner, people aren’t just buying the thing you do. They’re buying into you.
They want to know who they are dealing with.
That doesn’t mean you need to look perfect. In fact, trying to look perfect is usually where the trouble starts.
Perfect can feel cold. Perfect can feel distant. Perfect can feel suspicious.
Human is better.
That’s why AI headshots make me uneasy. Not because I’m scared of technology. I love new tech.
And not because I think every new tool is bad. But because your face isn’t just content. It’s part of how people recognise you, remember you, and decide whether they feel safe enough to take the next step.
If your current headshot no longer looks like you, that’s worth fixing.
If it was never really you in the first place, that’s worth fixing too.
AI headshots are cheap. Trust is expensive.
And once you lose it, good luck getting it back.
