Smoke & Mirrors

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How did that old saying go? “Believe nothing you hear, and only half of what you see.” That might need to be updated to only a fraction of what you see…

AI seems to be taking over the world, and I, for one, am jumping onboard. I’ve been playing with it for months, using it here and there, and holy cow, does it make life easier.

Needing a new headshot a half dozen times a year, I was this close to scheduling a photo shoot when I turned to this new technology to see if I could create something reasonably believable for a professional headshot. I had to upload ten of my own photos so it could use my real face. It even left me a few wrinkles, but gave me new outfits and different backdrops.

I kind of love this shot of me wearing a white button-up shirt (don’t think I’ve ever actually worn one!) standing casually on my yacht...only Tim might ask where I was, and who's boat!  I posted one of the pictures on Facebook to see if people would call me out…but even my own mother told me what a nice picture it was of me! I suppose if I can fool my mom, then it’s okay to use for professional purposes.

It saved me from setting up a photo shoot, carving hours out of my schedule, and since I don’t mind a little smoke and mirrors, we’ll call it done. I now have a solid batch of photos ready for the year…although I do think they used the same facial expression in most of them. But I doubt anyone’s looking that closely.

I’ve always loved new technology, my iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Alexa devices, and I tend to jump in and learn the latest as soon as I can. I figure if I don’t, I’ll miss the train and fall so far behind I won’t be able to catch up. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

So after about 200 likes and comments on my Facebook photo…I think I’ll keep my AI witchery to myself…well, aside from sharing it here with all of you.

If this is the future, I’m jumping right in and embracing it, just maybe a little more skeptical of everything I see from now on! 

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ~ Arthur C. Clarke