I need to get something off my chest and I suspect I'm not the only one feeling it.
Lately I can't open YouTube without being served an ad that is very clearly AI generated. The voice is slightly off, the faces are a bit too smooth and if you look closely enough, somebody has six fingers. Instagram isn't much better, because one wrong tap and you're 3 reels deep into a rabbit hole of AI video content that nobody actually filmed. Then there's LinkedIn, where I'm shown ads for AI headshots so often that I'm starting to take it personally.
It isn't only headshots either. I've seen AI personal branding photos of people supposedly working away in a cosy café, AI action shots of someone teaching a class that never happened, and entire AI brand videos. Basically every kind of visual branding content I create, someone is now trying to AI generate.
As a personal branding photographer and videographer, this is literally my subject. So yes, I have a vested interest and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. At the same time, I'm also a consumer of content and as a consumer I absolutely loathe it. That's why I want to talk about what all this artificial content is actually doing to trust, to connection and to the way we value each other's work.
Why AI visuals break know, like and trust
We talk about know, like and trust constantly in small business land. People buy from people they feel they know and they get to know you through the way you show up: your face, your voice, your energy and the way you explain things.
When I see something that's obviously AI or that looks too polished and too perfect, it doesn't build trust. It actually destroys it. I skip the ad, I scroll past the video and if someone's profile picture is an AI headshot, I'm far less likely to connect with them. That isn't me being a snob. It's an instinctive reaction, because my brain has spotted that something isn't real and once that happens I start wondering what else isn't real either.
It also sends a message, whether you mean it to or not. If the very first thing I see from you is generic and mass produced, it doesn't fill me with confidence that you're trustworthy, that you can do the job or that you care about the details. And when someone is deciding whether to hire you, the details are very important.
AI headshots are stock photos wearing your face
Remember when every website had the same smiling stock photo person pointing at a laptop? AI headshots and AI branding photos are basically that, except the stock photo has now been given your face. It still looks artificial. It just looks a bit more like you.
A real photo carries something an AI version can't, because you were actually there. You showed up, you had an experience, you probably felt a bit awkward for the first 10 minutes and then started laughing at something daft. That's the version of you people connect with and it's also the version they meet when they jump on a Zoom call with you or meet you in real life..
This is where AI headshots can really backfire. If someone books a call and the person on screen doesn't quite match the flawless picture they saw, that's a tiny crack in trust before you've even said hello. With a real up-to-date photo, nobody gets a surprise.
I work with a lot of camera shy people, so I completely understand why an AI headshot feels tempting. It's quick, it's cheap and you don't have to stand in front of anyone. However, avoiding the camera doesn't make the discomfort disappear. It simply puts it off for another day. Most of my clients arrive nervous and leave genuinely liking photos of themselves, sometimes for the first time in years. That's not something you can generate. The confidence that comes with an actual shoot, real photos and videos of you is also very absent from AI generated content.
I’ve actually did get AI headshots of myself last year for some research and a post I did on Instagram. The results? AI turned my purple hair into blonde, gave my boots I’ve never had and turned my vibrance and love for colour into bland, boring and generic photos that look vaguely like a distant cousin and nothing like the real me. They definitely don’t instil trust.
Are we prompting ourselves out of work?
This bit is bigger than photography, so bear with me.
It reminds me of something we've all seen. Someone talks endlessly about supporting small businesses and lifting each other up, yet whenever it comes to it, they're asking for freebies or suggesting a "collab" instead of actually paying. To be clear, I do love a good collaboration. I've done skill swaps and collaborations in the past that were brilliant and that I really enjoyed. They worked because both sides valued each other's work and would happily have paid for it if the situation had been different.
I see the same pattern with AI. People will happily pay a monthly subscription for ChatGPT or Claude to churn out rubbish graphics, rather than paying for Canva and making something themselves or hiring a designer to create templates they can build on for years. I've hired someone to make templates for me before and they were amazing. They still make my life easier every single week.
The frustrating part is the knock-on effect. Every time we replace a person with a prompt in a place where we would have hired someone, we take work away from another small business. Those small businesses and the people in it are also our clients. So if we keep doing it, eventually there's nobody left who can afford to hire us either.
The rise of AI window shopping
I've also noticed a shift in the enquiries landing in my inbox.
On the positive side, more people are finding me through AI search, which tells me my SEO is doing its job. So I'm not complaining about that part. What I am noticing is a new type of enquiry that is almost entirely written by AI. You can spot them a mile off, because there's a generic brief, a slightly stiff tone and nothing about what they've seen of my work or why they got in touch with me in particular. Often their description of what they do is super generic as well. Go figure.
I call it window shopping. The same polished email has clearly gone out to a long list of photographers and the aim is to find the cheapest option. More often than not, I never hear back. There's no "thanks, but we've gone with someone else", just silence.
When I compare that with how most of my enquiries arrive… usually someone has been recommended to me or they've followed me for a while or they've done their own research. By the time they email, they're already warm. 9 times out of 10 they know they want to book, so we're simply chatting about dates, packages and what they'd like to cover.
I'm not saying everyone has to choose me. Of course they don't. But when someone can't spare 5 minutes to write their own email and then can't spare 30 seconds to say they've gone elsewhere, it tells me they don't value the service, the person behind it or the time it takes to reply. That fits neatly into the same story, because when AI becomes a shortcut around basic effort and respect, we all lose something.
Yes, I use AI too
Before anyone grabs the pitchforks, I do use AI. I'm not anti technology (though I’m conflicted about everything that it comes with it) and I'd be fibbing if I said I never touch it. I use it in places where it genuinely helps me work better, for example organising my thoughts or speeding up admin.
My rule is simple: I never use it in a space where I would otherwise have hired a person. It’s a tool, not a replacement. I still pay a copywriter for my sales pages. I still have an accountant. I still create my own graphics and when I need templates, I hire a designer to make them.
For me, AI is a tool that supports my zone of genius. It isn't the face of my business and it definitely isn't the voice. The moment it becomes either of those things, you start losing the very thing that makes people want to work with you, which is YOU.
So where does that leave us?
AI isn't going anywhere and I'm not suggesting we all chuck our laptops in the Thames. I do think we need to be far more intentional about where we use it, though, because people can tell. They can tell when a photo isn't really you, when a video was never really filmed and when an email wasn't really written by the person who sent it.
Real connection takes a bit more effort. You have to show up, be seen and let people meet the actual you, slightly awkward laugh and all. That feels uncomfortable at first and I completely get it. At the same time, it's the only kind of visibility that builds trust that lasts.
I'd love to hear where you stand on this. Does AI content make you scroll straight past or have you made peace with it? Have you noticed AI window shopping in your own inbox? Come and tell me, because I want this to be a conversation rather than a rant (although, admittedly, it was a little bit of a rant).
And if you've been hiding behind the same old photo or toying with an AI headshot because the thought of a shoot makes you want to hide under the duvet, let's have a chat. I promise I'm far less scary than a six fingered version of yourself.
