AI Can Create the Perfect Image. But Can You Trust It?
Generally, I have a positive view of artificial intelligence. It can save time, help develop ideas and make useful tools available to people who previously couldn’t access them. And as a photographer, I can see plenty of worthwhile applications for it.
But there is a point where improving an image becomes inventing one. When that image represents you, your business or a property you’re selling, the distinction matters. In recent days, I’ve seen adverts from companies offering AI-generated interior images to estate agents, and another offering to “enhance” your LinkedIn profile picture.
The appeal is obvious. A beautifully presented room. A polished professional portrait. Quick results, minimal effort and no need to arrange a shoot. Yet however convincing the result, an invented image is still fake. Better technology makes it harder to spot; it doesn’t make it true.
A good headshot should show you at your best. Thoughtful lighting, a relaxed expression and a suitable setting can make a considerable difference without changing who you are. But when AI reshapes your face, smooths away every sign of age or creates a version of you that has never stood in front of a camera, what are you actually presenting?
On LinkedIn, your photograph forms part of your professional introduction. You’re asking people to recognise you, connect with you and, potentially, trust you with their business. If the person they meet looks noticeably different from the person in the picture, you’ve created an unnecessary question before the conversation has even started.
If the image you use to promote your brand is fake, what else about your offering might be fake?
That doesn’t mean an AI portrait proves someone is dishonest. It means their choice of image can undermine the credibility they were hoping to build.
The same issue becomes particularly clear in property photography. Imagine seeing a house advertised with a bright, immaculate lounge. Clean walls, attractive furnishings and an inviting atmosphere. You book a viewing. Then you walk in and find the damp patch where a water pipe burst last year. It wasn’t visible in the brochure. The image showed a flawless wall. At that point, the problem extends beyond the photograph. You start wondering what else has been left out.
Should the seller really be surprised if you walk away? Or if viewing after viewing fails to produce a buyer?
The image attracted attention, but the property couldn’t fulfil the promise it made.
There is a useful place for clearly labelled visualisations: showing how an empty room could be furnished or how a proposed renovation might look. Buyers can understand those images as possibilities. Presenting an invented interior as the property’s current condition is a different matter.
Good photography earns trust
Photography has always involved choices: where to stand, how to light a subject and which moment to capture. Editing also has its place. The responsibility is to make those choices without materially misrepresenting the person or space.
My job is to find the strongest image within what is actually there. To show a room with care and accuracy. To help someone feel comfortable enough for their character to come through in a portrait.
AI can produce something impressive. It can make a person or property look flawless.
But a professional image needs to survive the moment someone encounters the real thing.
