This is not a picture of me it's made entirely by AI

I have the pleasure of working in technology which means I make an effort to stay in the know on all of the new tech as it becomes available.? The speed at which new technology is deployed these days is overwhelming.? I’m making an effort to document my foray into the tech abyss starting with real-world examples of technology that I could use in my day-to-day life.

I first started with AI as I documented in my previous LinkedIn post here.? In that scenario, I was attempting to use an AI actor to create a video for me.? If you follow me on LinkedIn you may know that I make a lot of videos.? So I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to use AI to make one of my work videos?? ? So that’s what I did in my first example I tried a free download of Synthesia and within five minutes I had a lovely “actor” reading my pasted script about our Archive Central product.? She was pretty but a little stiff and she struggled with some of the technical language.? However, like the first iteration of every technology I’m sure it will only improve and a day will come in the future when I can stay in my pajamas, with my camera covered by a post-it, and let an actor make my videos.

After I posted that video I got some questions from friends and colleagues about why I selected an actor who does not look like me.? I guess I didn’t really think about it and decided my next technology experiment would be to go down that road.? And that is how I wound up here with dozens of images of AI me.??

This time I tried HeadshotPro with the premise being I uploaded 15 pictures of myself (from my standard LinkedIn headshots) and their software built AI versions of me in about 2 hours.? Now this exercise was silly, humbling, scary, and absolutely hysterical.? So silly in fact that I am sharing these photos with you to share in on the fun and to share that, like my first AI actor, these need quite a bit of work.

Where do I start?? The obvious place would be to state that the majority of the pictures do not even look like me or they look like a movie star airbrushed version of me, but I’d rather start on a more peculiar note.? Fingers.? Apparently, in many of the pictures of AI me, I have an inordinate amount of fingers.? Needless to say, none of the pictures of myself that I uploaded even showed me from the shoulders down so I’m not sure where all these digits came from. ? No matter how advanced the technology is - it can’t handle the nuance of counting two hands and 10 fingers and also of note - there are no thumbs.??

Another silly thing about AI me is even though I only uploaded headshots from my LinkedIn, many of the AI pictures of me are a full body view with a body that bears very little similarity to my own.? Not that I mind the upgrade but it is unsettling to see some of these revealing headshots which are more akin to a dating app than a work profile. The clothes vary from black leather turtlenecks to flowy dresses and it is disorienting to see a fake version of me wearing clothes and making poses in a body that’s not mine and with a face that sometimes has some of my features. ? We had some real fun doing this one and I encourage anyone with $39 and solid self-esteem to give it a try.? Where else can you see 50 pictures of a fictional you or in my case, what appears to be 50 pictures of me crossed with Florence Henderson and Gollum??

The good news is, AI me only has, in most cases, a flattering airbrushed resemblance of a fictional long-lost aunt so I won’t expect any deep fake videos with my doppelganger anytime soon. ? Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for my next article where I will let chatgpt write my next blog for me.

If you want to see real AI and how it works in the context of HCM, check out my SAP Blog "Can AI and Machine Learning be used in HXM?".