Are AI Headshots Worth It?

I’ll be honest, I dreaded making this video and writing this post. But the question keeps coming up, so here we are. I’m Ben Marcum, a professional headshot photographer based in Louisville, Kentucky, and I’m going to give you the straight answer on whether AI headshots are actually worth it, including a story from a recent shoot that pretty much sums it up.

I showed up at a company to photograph their team, 15 people. Before I got there, they told me they had already tried to go the AI route. Here is how that played out.

First, they had to collect photos from 15 different people, which pulled time away from everyone’s actual jobs and annoyed a fair number of them. Then they uploaded everything to an AI headshot generator and spent the better part of a day and a half, two senior people, trying to get consistent results. The images would get close to looking like the person, but never quite right. Backgrounds wouldn’t match. Lighting was inconsistent. They kept fiddling and getting more frustrated until they finally just called me.

Day of the shoot: I brought my studio to their location, photographed all 15 people, coached each one through the session, helped them select their favorites, packed out, and had the edited photos delivered to them the same day. In around four hours total.

In trying to save time and money, they made their lives harder and still ended up hiring a photographer anyway.

There is a phenomenon you have probably experienced without knowing what it is called: the uncanny valley. The theory is that as something gets closer to looking human, but is not quite there, it starts to feel deeply unsettling. You cannot always put your finger on why. You just know something is off.

AI headshots live in that valley.

I have experienced this myself. Meta has started showing previews of what it would look like if your profile photo were animated, taking your face and moving it around, plastering expressions on it. It is supposed to be a feature. It made me uncomfortable. Because that is not how I move. That is not my smile. It is what a computer thinks I look like, and the difference, even subtle, registers in a way that feels wrong.

Part of why this happens: AI tends to make things too perfect. Most people have slightly different size eyes. Almost nobody is perfectly symmetrical. Real skin has texture. AI smooths all of that out, and paradoxically, that perfection is exactly what makes it feel fake. The eyes look slightly blank. The skin looks plastic. It does not feel human, because it is not.

AI headshot generators promise that the process is fast, simple, and delivers excellent results. Let us actually break that down.

To get decent results, you need decent source photos, which most people do not just have sitting around. Then you upload them and get back a large volume of variations to sort through. That volume sounds like a benefit. In practice, it creates analysis paralysis. You know the feeling. You open Netflix, scroll for 20 minutes, cannot decide, and end up watching something you have already seen. Too many options without any guidance becomes its own kind of stress.

When I am working with someone in the studio, there are still a lot of images to choose from, but I am there to help. I will tell you which ones are working and why, which expression is slightly off, and when we can do better. That guidance matters. Staring at a gallery of images that do not quite look like you, trying to pick the best one on your own, is not the easy experience these tools advertise.

A professional headshot is not just a pretty picture of you. It is a tool. Its job is to help you make connections, on LinkedIn, on your website, with potential employers or clients. It has to communicate who you are, genuinely, to people who have never met you.

As of right now, an AI generated image cannot do that the way a real photograph can. And there is data to back it up. A survey of recruiters found that 66% said if they discovered a candidate was using an AI headshot, they were already put off and more likely to pass on that person.

The reason makes sense when you think about it. You are putting yourself out there saying: this is me. When people find out that is not actually you, it is what a computer thought you might look like, it creates distrust before you have even had a conversation. You have started the relationship with a small deception, even if that was not your intent.

One of the best things about having real conversations in the studio is what people tell you once they are comfortable. Midway through a session, a client mentioned he had tried AI headshots before booking with me. I asked him what the difference was.

He said the AI images were okay. But at the end of the day, he wanted something that felt human. He wanted to know there was a real person on the other end if he needed something changed. He wanted connection, and he wanted his images to actually feel like him.

That is it. That is the whole argument.

Before you upload your face to any AI headshot generator, read the terms of service carefully. A lot of these platforms reserve the right to use your images for their own purposes. Which means it is entirely possible you end up on a billboard, a website, or in an ad campaign for something you never agreed to be a part of.

The AI genie is out of the bottle. I get that, and I am not pretending otherwise. For some people, those who genuinely cannot afford a photographer, who need a placeholder, or who are in the early stages of building a professional presence, AI might be better than nothing.

But for anyone who cares about their professional image, who wants to actually connect with the people they are trying to reach, and who understands that a headshot is a marketing tool and not just a formality, a real photographer is always going to do a better job of presenting the real you.

If you are in Louisville, Kentucky and want to find out what that actually looks like, reach out and let’s talk.