Hot take: It’s getting harder to tell a photograph from a generated one.
The tech’s not that good; we just set the bar that low.
It doesn’t matter that the machines can’t produce soul because we started accepting soulless a long time ago. There are so many lifeless pictures in their training data, what did we expect?
What makes a good picture? Connection. Vulnerability, confidence, presence. A bad one? Blank eyes, empty expression, no inner life. Attractive people… umm… attract us, but we’re drawn to the ones who risk being truly seen. That’s connection.
I’m sorry to break the news, but a hottie in a picture ≠ a good picture (even of a hottie). Even if that’s you (congratulations), you deserve better. To be seen for a genuine aspect of who you are, not just celebrated for how you look for these 18-ish months in your life.
Pretty pictures of pretty people looking profoundly bored are profoundly boring. I don’t care how good you look. You’re not really there.
And really, neither is anyone else.