Filters and Photoshop move over, artificial intelligence (AI) is the new trend for creating online profile pictures.
Over the summer a video went viral on TikTok. It was captioned "using this trend to get a new LinkedIn headshot".
In the short clip, a young woman shows both how she looks in real life, and the professional-looking headshot photos that she created using an AI-powered app called Remini. The video has now been watched 52.3 million times, and a host of similar ones from other TikTokers have also been extensively viewed.
Remini, and competitors such as Try It On AI and AI Suit Up, use AI-based software to create slick profile photos that aim to look as if they were taken by an expert photographer.
With Remini you are asked to upload eight to 10 selfies, preferably taken from different angles, and all in good lighting. The AI uses those pictures to learn about the way you look.
Then just a few minutes later it will start creating artificial photos of you looking very smart and even glamorous, with your hair in different styles or positions, and you wearing different clothes while sitting in perfect lighting.
It also gives you faultless skin, and improves your make-up. Plus, you get different backdrops. And some users find that it makes them look thinner.
