How to actually* tell if an image is AI-generated.
Generative AI has gotten really good at its job. You've probably been tricked by it, whether you know it or not. As it gets increasingly difficult to spot, I just want to put out a little guide on how I personally check if something is real. This is not going to be 100% fool-proof, and things may change as this technology continues to evolve and shift!
I'm mostly just tired of seeing AI-generated images getting shared by my mutuals while real artists get accused of using AI for clearly human-made art, lol.
Check 1: The Obvious Stuff
If an image looks unlikely, comes from an obscure source, and has details that don't match up with reality, this should be your sign to be suspicious. Unless you see something that is 100% without-a-doubt synthetic, take this as your sign to get curious, not accusatory.
As an example, let's take this image, which currently is being shared about Tumblr on a wildly popular post:
At first glance, this looks pretty convincing. This pool could very much be a real place. But something about that alligator looks a little weird, doesn't it? An adult alligator typically weighs over 500lbs (227kg), so it wouldn't make sense for it to be riding a pool float without making any sort of indentation.
At this point, let's take that suspicion a step further and do something very simple...
Check 2: Reverse Image Search
The classic move. This should be the first thing you do any time you see anything not-quite-right on the internet. TinEye is pretty good, but I've been getting better results with Google Lens tbh. My fellow Firefox users can get the Search by Image extension to access a bunch of different image search tools at once, like so:
Let's use Google Lens for the sake of this example. With funny animal pictures, art, and aesthetic posts, you're often going to see a bunch of useless repost results on sites like Instagram and Facebook. If you're lucky, you'll also find some Reddit posts, particulary on subreddits like r/isthisAI or r/isitAI, both of which are VERY helpful.
We can follow those Reddit links, aaaaand...
This image has a Synth ID! So it's definitely AI. I agree with what this commenter said; it's likely a real backyard that someone has inpainted a funny-alligator-on-an-alligator-float into. This is a very common way to make a super convincing image that can easily go viral.
These two subreddits are excellent places for getting potentially AI-generated content reviewed by others. It's also a really good place to train your own eyes, as you can try to make content judgement on your own before checking the comments to see if you were right!
Check 3: Google Synth ID & C2PA Content Credentials
You know that thing I just mentioned? The Synth ID? It's a really good way to immediately know that an image has been generated by AI.
Before I explain what it is, let me make this very clear: Synth ID cannot provide false positives, but it can provide false negatives. If an image has been compressed or was created with a generator that does not implement a Synth ID, it will not return one, even if that image is 100% AI-generated.
Synth ID is a Google DeepMind technology that basically impliments a watermark into anything generated with Google's AI tools (which have become very popular lately, as they're some of the most realistic models available). You will need to use Google Gemini to confirm if a Synth ID is present. If you're making the personal choice to not use any form of AI technology, you will not be able to check for a Synth ID on your own. In that case, I strongly recommend posting on the aforementioned subreddits for help.
Content Credentials are less reliable, in my opinion, but still worth mentioning. They come as metadata attached to different forms of synthetic content. You're typically only going to find these intact on content that creators are explicitly telling you is AI-generated, so I don't find them very useful for things that aren't immediately obvious.
When all else fails, ask someone who knows more than you. That's a good idea for, like, anything. I love bugging other people to get a second opinion. You don't need to be paranoid about a robot boogeyman, but it's good to use common sense to avoid feeding into the rise of viral soulless synthetic content. 👍
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