How to Create Your First AI Expert

Your AI expert is the foundation of everything in ppl.studio. It's the person who appears in every AI UGC photo you generate—holding your products, wearing your brand, and showing up consistently across hundreds of images. Think of it as a brand ambassador who's always available, never renegotiates, and looks the same in every shot.

What You'll Need Before You Start

• A niche or persona concept — Who is this person? A skincare enthusiast? A fitness coach? A tech reviewer? The niche shapes everything from their appearance to the scenes they appear in.
• A reference photo (optional but recommended) — A “passport photo” that gives the AI a face to maintain across generations. Without one, ppl.studio can generate a face from your text description.
• 5 minutes — That's genuinely all it takes.

Step 1: Start a New Expert

Navigate to your Experts page and click New Expert. You'll see a form with several sections. Don't worry about filling everything in—start with the basics and add detail later.

There's also a shortcut: Create from Niche. Pick an industry niche (skincare, fitness, tech, fashion) and ppl.studio auto-generates a complete persona with name, bio, and appearance details. You can tweak from there.

Step 2: Set the Basics

Fill in the core identity fields:

• Name — Give your expert a name. This is for your internal reference.
• Gender and age range — These influence how the AI renders the face and body.
• Niche and expertise — “Skincare and beauty,” “Fitness and supplements,” “Tech and gadgets”—this provides context for generation prompts.
• Bio and personality — A few sentences about who they are. The AI uses this when generating contextual scenes.

Step 3: Upload a Reference Photo

This is the most important step. Upload a clear, well-lit photo of the face you want your expert to have. This “passport photo” becomes the reference for every future generation—ensuring the same person appears across all your content.

Step 4: Customize Appearance Details

This is where your expert comes alive. You can specify:

• Visual description — Let the AI generate this from your photo, or write your own. Describes hair color, skin tone, distinctive features.
• Body type — From slim to plus-size, athletic to stocky. Affects how the expert appears in full-body shots.
• Wardrobe — List owned outfits so you can reference them during generation. “Black turtleneck,” “White linen shirt,” “Gym tank top.”
• Phone model — For selfie-style shots, this determines what phone appears in the frame.

The AI “Generate with AI” button can auto-fill most of these fields based on your reference photo. Use it as a starting point, then refine.

Step 5: Generate Your First Photo

Save your expert and head to the UGC generation page. Select your new expert, pick a scene preset (mirror selfie, golden hour, desk setup—there are 40+ to choose from), and click generate.

In under 60 seconds, you'll have your first AI UGC photo. Same face as your reference, in the scene you chose, ready for your next ad or social post.

What to Do Next

• Add product props — Upload your products so they appear in photos with your expert.
• Try different presets — Generate the same expert across 5–10 different scenes to see the range.
• Build a storyboard — Create a multi-frame carousel with your expert for Instagram or TikTok.
• Create additional experts — Different demographics and styles let you A/B test which person resonates with different audience segments.