Robot Jenny? AI Generated Professional Photos

Robot Jenny?

Notice anything different about my LinkedIn picture today? Its AI enhanced!

Thanks to the Remini app, I was able to put in 9 of my best photos, including some of my non-business photos, and generate an AI enhanced profile image for LinkedIn.

Launched in 2019, Remini is an AI assisted photo editing app which went viral earlier in July 2023 when TikTok users discovered it could generate professional quality images from casual selfies. Remini climbed to the number 1 spot in the US app store on July 11th.

When I downloaded Remini after seeing a video posted by Bryan Creely, the app came with a 3 day free trial and a $9.99 per week price tag afterwards.

After selecting my 9 images, I chose a "model" for the photos to approximate. The app then generated 6 downloadable photos in the style of each model.

The first generation took the longest by far, at about 38 minutes. Each one afterwards reduced generation time by a bit over half.

How realistic were the results? You can judge for yourself below!

Original Image:

AI Enhanced Images:

Looking at the changes made by the software, I see the most variation in the images based on the model style that I selected.

Some consistent changes among the model variations were thicker hair, thicker eyebrows, bigger lips, a thinner face, more angular jaw line and smoother hair. Most of my photos were not generated with much of the body visible. For the few that were, I can see why some consumers are complaining that the software unexpectedly shaved off noticeable pounds. You can see a hint of this "downsizing" trend in the software on the bottom right photo where the simulation has a protruding collarbone.

In all of the 17 variations that I downloaded, the one I used as my profile picture today looked *mostly* like me. However, there were many variations where I struggled to see the resemblance.

In Remini, you can also refine the AI simulations by enhancing a simulation, making multiple results of a simulation, changing the color, "beautifying" the face or re-simulating new images from the same selected images and model.

Fiddling with these settings, I was able to produce an image I thought better encapsulated what I was hoping the software would produce:

I plan to retake my photos the old fashioned way soon. I wonder what Remini would produce if given professional photos to begin with.

I guess we’ll see!

Like any modern worker, I expected that a robot might take my job one day.

But I didn’t expect one to wear my face! Pretty surreal.

I guess if my family is right though, it’s not really my face it's wearing since many of the simulations “look nothing like me!.”