Comparing Lensa AI and old-school portrait photographers taught me something scary

I paid a real photographer $200 for a headshot last year, then messed with Lensa AI for $7.99. The AI version looked better on the surface, but it literally invented freckles and a scar I don't have. Has anyone else noticed how these apps just make up your face features without warning?

3 comments

3 Comments

nelson.vera1mo ago

Tbh I used to be one of those people who thought AI was basically the same as a real photographer but cheaper. Then I tried Lensa on a photo of myself and it gave me a completely different jawline shape and smoothed out my nose to the point where I looked like a filtered version of a stranger. Made me realize that "better looking" isn't the same as accurate, and that $7.99 is paying for someone to rewrite your face instead of capturing it.

taraross1mo ago

Damn that's a good point. Did it mess with your whole facial structure or just little things that made you stop trusting it completely?

morgan_king361mo ago

Does the "better" version even count as a photo of you anymore, or is it just a pretty picture of a stranger wearing your haircut? That's what gets me about these AI things - they're not trying to capture who you actually are, they're smoothing out every little imperfection until there's nothing real left. Once I realized that, the whole "AI is just a faster photographer" argument felt like nonsense because a real photographer actually sees you, flaws and all.