What is an AI-generated image?
An AI-generated image is created by a machine-learning model instead of a camera. The model learned from millions of pictures and produces a new image from a text description. Modern models (mostly diffusion models) build the image step by step from noise, which is why they are excellent at overall style and lighting but still make mistakes in small, logical details.
10 visual clues to check
Zoom in and check these areas one by one. One clue alone is not proof; several together are a strong signal.
- Hands and fingers: count the fingers, check the joints and nails, look at how the hand holds objects.
- Teeth: AI teeth often merge into a single white band or have strange numbers and sizes.
- Eyes: compare both pupils and the light reflections in them. In a real photo, both eyes reflect the same light source.
- Skin: real skin has pores, small spots and fine hairs. AI skin is often too smooth, almost waxy.
- Hair: look at the edges. AI hair strands may melt into the background, the face or the clothes.
- Jewelry and accessories: earrings that do not match, chains that vanish, glasses with different frames on each side.
- Clothes: straps, seams, buttons and zips that start and stop at random, patterns that change halfway.
- Background: lines that should be straight (doors, tiles, shelves) are bent, objects blend together, people in the back are deformed.
- Text: signs, labels and logos with letters that look real from far away but are unreadable up close.
- Light and shadows: shadows that fall in different directions, or a face lit from one side while the room is lit from the other.
Check the context, not only the pixels
The best AI images have none of the visual clues above. Then the context helps:
- Reverse image search (Google Lens, Bing, TinEye): a real person usually has other photos online. An AI face often has none.
- Content Credentials (C2PA): some cameras, editors and AI tools add a signed history to the file. You can check it at contentcredentials.org/verify.
- The source: a brand-new profile, a perfect photo and a story that asks for money or private information are classic signs of a fake profile.
Do AI detectors work?
Online detectors such as Hive Moderation, Illuminarty or AI or Not give a probability score. They are useful as a second opinion, but they can be wrong in both directions, especially after an image has been compressed, cropped or screenshotted. Use them together with your own eyes and the context checks.
Why it matters
AI portraits are used for fake dating and social media profiles, romance scams, fake reviews and misinformation. Training your eye takes a few minutes a day, and it makes you much harder to fool. That is exactly why we made the Real or AI game.