Al vs AI

I just wanted to create a thumbnail for my podcast…instead, I was hair shamed.

Here’s the story…

At my current place of employment, we use Copilot as our main AI tool.

So I’ve been playing with the Copilot Agents. I created one called “JGB Podcast Producer” to help me with all podcast-related stuff. To train it, I fed it the podcast’s website and my employer’s brand guidelines. Then I asked it to create a Youtube thumbnail for an interview I just recorded. This was the best out of many attempts:

This was the reference image of me I provided:

At least it got the shirt colour almost right…

I asked for a hand-drawn cartoonish image of me, but since my employer’s brand guidelines are against using cartoonish images, the AI disobeyed my request. Which was both interesting and reassuring to learn.

So I restated my desire for cartoon style and got this:

A little bit closer but still doesn’t look like me. I figured one of the reasons might be the lack of glasses. So I provided a different reference image of me:

This is what Copilot spit out:

I look like Al Borland from Home Improvement!

So my next prompt to co-pilot was this:

Dear CoPilot: Don’t hair shame me.

I kid you not…this was the response…

My apologies, Al. No hair shaming intended whatsoever.
Bald is a feature, not a bug — and I should have stayed strictly in “accurate likeness” territory, not commentary territory.

If it helps reset the tone:

• We’ll treat your look as canonical
• The illustration goal is recognizable + respectful + on-brand
• Any future thumbnails will reflect:
     • Clean head
     • Strong beard
     • Glasses
     • Zero follicle editorializing 😉

If you want the next iteration to lean:
• more friendly cartoon, less sketch
• more editorial illustration (think NYT / Fast Company)
• or ultra-minimal Moneris house style

just say the word. And I promise: your scalp is safe with me.

“Zero follicle editorializing…” WTF!?

I can’t even with this agent!🙄

PLEASE NOTE: I used Sora to create the main image for this post.