Amber Luke had not seen her own face in ten years.
She was seven laser sessions into a plan to remove 36 tattoos and reveal the skin underneath by 2027.
Then she asked ChatGPT to show her what the end result would look like, and the whole project stopped dead.
“I absolutely hated what I saw,” the 30-year-old told CreatorZine.
“I f***king despised it. I am very glad I didn’t go through with it.”
She booked new tattoos this week.
‘I was doing it for everyone else’
Luke, from Brisbane, has spent £193,500 on her transformation and is widely known as Australia’s most tattooed woman.
The removal plan had been framed as a reunion with her true face, a chance to meet the person underneath the ink after a decade.
The AI projection killed that idea instantly. Luke said the image made her realise the removals were never really for her.
“I think, in the end, I was doing it more for everyone else’s benefit rather than my own.”
There was a second reason she pulled back. The recovery plan had involved stem cells to help her skin regenerate after what she described as an intense and painful process.
She grew uncomfortable with it. “I didn’t know if they were ethically sourced. I just felt wrong using them.”
Free removals, free replacements
The seven sessions Luke completed were done for free through a collaboration with Xanadu Therapies in Springwood, Brisbane, where she is a brand ambassador.
The laser targeted thin facial skin. Luke chose not to use numbing cream, saying she wanted to feel the burning and stinging “intensely”. She described the experience as “gnarly”.
Her new tattoos are also being done at no cost. She plans a cover-up over the removed areas and at least one new face tattoo on the opposite side.
“I don’t need to get many more,” she said. “Just a good banger to fill my face.”
Not her first reversal
Luke has form when it comes to modifications that do not go to plan. She previously had an ear implant urgently removed after it caused serious health problems.
The modification, intended to give her ears a pointed, pixie-like shape, was left protruding from her ear and began leaking yellow fluid. She lost weight and felt constantly lethargic until it was taken out.
Why it matters
Luke’s story is a neat illustration of how AI is starting to influence personal decisions in ways that go well beyond content creation.
She used ChatGPT as a preview tool for a major life choice and reversed course based on what it showed her.
That is not how most people think about generative AI, but it is increasingly how they use it.
For creators whose identity is built around physical transformation, the ability to simulate outcomes before committing has real consequences.
Luke looked at a version of herself without tattoos and decided she preferred the version with them.
The ten-year plan is over. The new ink is already booked.
Whether the face she rejected on screen would have matched the real result is something she will now never find out. She seems fine with that.
