It can often take a while to get a brand-aligned photoshoot arranged when executives – or anyone – starts a new role. As news of my appointment as a Director of Greentarget UK was released at the end of last year, I wanted to ensure I had a more formal, executive head shot on my own LinkedIn profile.

Given my role as Head of Digital and Social Media at Greentarget, I decided to use myself as a guinea pig, and experiment with my chosen AI avatar creator: artflow.ai.

The Ethical Dilemma: AI vs. Authenticity

I’ll get into the creation process shortly, but to answer the “is it ok?” question, brings us right to the nub of what corporate comms teams, marketers and – yes – public relations agencies are facing at this very moment.

For PR and comms professionals, it’s not about the AI skills gap; the biggest challenge is about AI ethics and reputation management.

Given that a LinkedIn profile image is intended to convey professionalism, credibility, and approachability, the question arises: Does an AI-generated headshot compromise authenticity?

In considering posting my own AI-generated LinkedIn headshot, I did some soul-searching:

Is it disingenuous?

Is it any different to ‘touching up’ a true photo of myself? To using Photoshop?

If it is my likeness, with my approval on my own platform, is it such a big deal?

Does it corrode trust in my LinkedIn presence?

Will LinkedIn penalise my profile?

That said, we would be naive to think that high-profile senior leaders and Executives are tapping away on LinkedIn day after day themselves. No, they are usually working closely with a team of copywriters and marketers to streamline their ‘thought leadership’.

If Content is King on social media, then it often needs an institution and ‘royal household’ behind it.

AI Headshots and LinkedIn’s Policies

First up, LinkedIn’s policies do not explicitly prohibit AI-generated profile images. There are some unverified reports suggesting that the platform has penalised AI images, but I couldn’t find anything in the following:

LinkedIn’s Terms of Service

LinkedIn’s Responsible AI hub

Notably, LinkedIn itself employs AI in various capacities, and even hit the headlines accused of sharing users’ private LinkedIn messages with third parties to train it’s AI (LLM) model. Read more about the legal case here.

Yet, just because LinkedIn does not (as yet) explicitly penalise the use of AI-generated headshots – the ‘letter’ of its policies – it does rather feel like it goes against the spirit of LinkedIn.

As the professional’s social network, it’s crucial that connections and peers can trust that when I post, it is from me (the human) and that my profile accurately represents me. It is also one of the reasons I never intended to leave the image ‘in play’ for longer than a couple of months.

Interestingly, while using the AI image, some of my posts exceeded my expectations – posts I wrote appeared twice in LinkedIn News Pulse during this time – but other posts performed less well than I expected.

Decision-Making in a Corporate Context

When advising C-suite or other senior executives, this sense of authenticity on LinkedIn makes the decision more loaded from a reputation management standpoint.

For my own little experiment, the Senior Leadership Team at Greentarget weighed up the pros and cons very carefully, and decided:

• An AI-generated profile picture could be applied to LinkedIn only

As LinkedIn profiles are owned by the individual, it was ultimately my choice to use the AI image, and to do for a limited time period. We decided to use this experience to gauge reactions, and planned from the outset to share this process with our community of communications professionals.

• It is not appropriate to share an AI-generated image on company assets.

This included the website, and my appointment press release. Instead, my previous ‘real life’ – more casual – headshot image was used in these cases.

Our thinking was:

1. The company has never used AI-generated images before, and so to break from this without a wider conversation with all stakeholders would be inappropriate.
2. The potential for the image to be used or published by third-parties gives rise to myriad concerns spanning copyright through to the ethics of misrepresentation.

Best Practices for AI-Generated Executive Headshots

For those considering AI-generated headshots, here are our key takeaways:

1. Ensure Accuracy: The AI-generated image should faithfully represent the individual, avoiding excessive alterations that compromise authenticity.
2. Time-bound: AI imagery should be a short-term solution, such as in the interim until a professional ‘real life’ headshot is available.
3. Consider Disclosure: Executive teams should consider wider impressions or implications across their whole suite of stakeholders.

Should we label images as AI generated? This is a tough one.

If I were to use an AI-generated image in a blog, for example, I would label it. (There’s been quite a backlash against AI-generated blog images on LinkedIn).

When it comes to people images, if it is in keeping with the use case then yes. In my own profile example, I wanted to test the response to the image when people did not know it was AI created.

Stakeholder Reactions and Industry Response

Using myself as a guinea pig, the feedback has been mixed. Colleagues, friends and family did not notice I had used an AI image. (In fact, my dad sent me a lovely message about how well I looked on LinkedIn!)

Even during discussions at an AI workshop I attended alongside some Greentarget clients and hosted by our parent company Selbey Anderson, the prevailing sentiment was that communications professionals should be actively exploring these tools. Their only question was which software I had used.

Interestingly, it was only once this little experiment ended and I announced on LinkedIn that I was changing my headshot image and replacing an AI-generated one I had trialled that I received some alarmed comments. Chief among concerns were those about  “inauthenticity”.

Of course, if an exec uses a very good, photo-realistic AI-generated image of themselves, which accurately represents how they present ‘in the real world’ – and they do not declare it as AI – would anyone actually know? And does that make it ok?

The Evolving AI Landscape

The pace of change from AI is astonishing. Only last week, the launch of DeepSeek sent global markets tumbling while the rest of us worked out whether it was even safe to download the app.

In this fast-moving area of digital life, best practice is still being hashed out. It’s a live topic that not everyone will feel confident experimenting with – especially on behalf of their C-suite or Fee-earners.

It is worth saying that as Head of Digital and Social Media, I ensure I am constantly updating my skills and knowledge of new tools, including Artificial Intelligence. I have undertaken courses to deepen my expertise in using AI responsibly.

Rightly, I don’t think there can be many Head of PR/Communications leaving AI – especially in its applications – to the IT department. It is now becoming a crucial part of the communications skillset.

How to Make an AI Executive Profile Image

There are a variety of headshot image generators available. Do your research to find the one that suits you best. I chose to use artflow.ai, which has a service called ‘actor builder’.

1. Create an account.
2. Upload 10 ‘real life’ headshot images.
3. Type an AI prompt – I provided context (background setting, clothing choice), my role (keywords such as ‘executive’), and specific requirements(such as ‘closed mouth smile’).
4. I did several rounds of refinement of my AI prompt (e.g. the AI kept straightening my teeth, making the smile not ‘my’ smile).

Using myself as a guinea pig so I can better advise our financial services, professional services and technology clients on the opportunities, as well as the risks, limitations and considerations of new technologies like this is something I am comfortable with.

I acknowledge this won’t be right for everyone, especially given the pace of change in AI capabilities, the lack of uniformed transparency around AI data use, and given the fact we are living through a period in which AI cultural norms are being tested and established.

Therefore, any use of AI in corporate communications calls for careful deliberation, and the balancing of technological innovation with ethical responsibility.

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