Profile Pic & Double Quick: Using AI for quality self portraits

I'm doing a lot of public speaking and workshops at the moment, so I'm regularly asked for biographies and headshots. So much so, that I'm sick of the pictures I have of myself.

That made me wonder if I could quickly create some AI-generated headshots for my upcoming talks. And it seems that I can.

The results are so good that I kinda got carried away with it.

I thought you might be interested in having your own AI headshots, so I'm sharing my process.

This is quite different from my usual newsletter format, so please tell me if it sucks or if you want more of this kind of thing.

First of all, what do you think of my AI generated profile pics?

These took me about 20 minutes all in. Here's what you need:

• Access to a paid Midjourney account
• The Insight Face Midjourney bot
• A normal photograph of your face

Step 1

Make sure you've got a Midjourney paid plan. (You can find out more about that here if you don't have one. And use this guide to get started if you're a total noob).

Then follow this video tutorial to create a new server, install the Insight FaceSwap bot and load your own face into the magical algorithm.

It may seem like a bit of a faff getting it set up but once you do, everything's a breeze.

Step 2

Start creating images of people that look a bit like you in certain situations. You do this by describing yourself in the prompt.

For example, my Midjourney prompts always start with something like "A photographic portrait of a bald man with glasses and a short grey beard". I then add more information about the context of the shot. For example "...standing outside a fancy glass office building" or "...standing with a cute and friendly little robot".

These result in images like these.

Step 3

I then click on the three little dots that appear in the top right when you hover over the generated image, hover on the 'Apps' option and select 'INSwapper' from the dropdown that appears. A few seconds later, the character's face is replaced by yours. Now you just need to download the image to your computer.

Step 4

Now upscale your image for free at Img.Upscaler . I upscale mine by 400% so they'll look OK if a magazine or newspaper uses them in an interview.

And that's it! You now have some brand new - and rather more interesting - profile pictures.

InsightFace say that you're not supposed to wear glasses in your reference image. That's ridiculous for someone like me who needs to put on glasses to find my glasses in the morning. So I've found that asking Midjourney for an image of someone wearing glasses gives pretty good results when I swap in my own bespectacled face.

Here are some before-and-afters.

I've used it to create some typical corporate-style headshots. But you can also have a bit more imagination and create some more conceptual images like these:

I don't think any of these beat a good quality head shot from a great photographer. But they're great if you can't afford a photoshoot. And perfect for some specific applications.

What do you think? Are you tempted to create your own AI profile pics?

If you do, post them on LinkedIn and give me a namecheck so I can admire your handiwork.

Even more AI courses on LinkedIn Learning

Last week, LinkedIn Learning launched another of my AI courses on the platform. This one is on prompts for small businesses and entrepreneurs. However, from my experience, most big companies also need the stuff I share in here. So check it out!

The complete list of my AI courses on the platform are:

How to Research and Write Using Generative AI Tools

How to Boost Your Productivity with AI Tools

ChatGPT Prompts for Jobseekers

Using AI as Your SEO Assistant

ChatGPT Prompts for Small Businesses

And I've got more on the way. (I've been preparing a really challenging course this week, which I plan to film and edit next week.)

Do you want a piece of me?

I'm not challenging you to a fight. I promise! But I may have some time for consulting and training from October.

A Fortune 500 company is currently getting me to help them build up their Generative AI capabilities. And I'm advising and training other businesses all over the world. Maybe you'd like some of my time as well to inspire, train or assist your teams. If so, let me know and we'll see if it's something that can work for both of us.

This article is part of the?Experiments in Creativity?newsletter,?which examines the frontiers of creativity. Often that involves a bit of science or technology. If you want more of this kind of thing, you can?subscribe?to get notified when a new article posts .

If you want to learn more about what I talk about, check out my courses on?LinkedIn Learning ?and?davebirss.com. ?If you haven't signed up already, it's a good idea to start with my?FREE Creative Bootcamp course .

If you'd like to book me for a talk or training session, send an email to?[email protected]