Could an AI-created profile picture help you get a job?

A video on TikTok became viral over the summer. “Using this trend to get a new LinkedIn headshot,” the caption read. A young woman appears in the brief video both as she appears in real life and in the polished headshot images she made with the help of the AI-powered app Remini. The video has since received 52.3 million views, and many other similarly themed TikTokers’ have also received a lot of attention. Remini and its rivals Try It On AI and AI Suit Up use AI-based software to produce stylish profile images that are intended to appear as though they were taken by a professional photographer. You are required to upload eight to ten good-quality, ideally varied-angle selfies with Remini. These images are used by the AI to learn about your appearance. A little while later, it will begin producing fake pictures of you wearing different outfits while sitting in ideal lighting, looking very sophisticated and even attractive. Your hair will also be in various styles or positions. Additionally, it improves your makeup and offers you flawless skin. You also get several backgrounds. Additionally, some users discover that it slims them down.

Some people consider the results to be realistic, while others think the pictures appear fake.

However, this trend is very much concentrated on LinkedIn and other job-hunting platforms, unlike earlier online picture modification trends, including significantly changing your hair or eye color. The affordability of AI services is one of their draws for certain people. While AI headshots “are obviously generated,” Australian digital marketer Divya Shishodia, 24, notes that some people “might not have the budget to go and get a professional headshot taken. Remini and the other service providers typically provide free samples that last a few days, although hiring a professional photographer might cost more than £100.”I’m not saying they’re the most realistic, but for the amount of time and effort you have to put in… the output is worth it,” adds Shishodia. She continues by pointing out that it might be really challenging to take a nice profile shot on your own.”You need lighting, and angles, and are attempting to prevent shadows. It can only be done by real photographers. Michelle Genobisa, 26, from Aalborg, Denmark, is on board with the AI-generated profile photographs because they are inexpensive or free. 

However, how may AI-enhanced photographs affect our sense of self-worth? The problem has two aspects, according to consumer psychologist Dr. Paul Marsden. “On one hand it could allow us to put our best self forward, and the image of ourselves that we want to project to the world, and in turn motivate us to be that way inclined in real life,” he says to the BBC.”The psychology of first impressions is how humans make hasty judgments based on first impressions, and by employing AI people may place themselves in the running to possibly be considered for an opportunity. In contrast, it might have an impact on people’s sense of value and their conviction that they fall short of their AI generation. Do employers care? There has been a significant increase in the number of people utilizing AI to enhance their images, according to Tristan Barthel of Tate Recruitment in London. He claims that it has no bearing on how he responds to an applicant’s application. “I can tell whether a photo was created using AI, but it won’t change how I choose; for me, qualifications are what matter.