ZDNET’s key takeaways
- AI images have subtle flaws that reveal they are fake.
- Check faces, hands, and textures for common AI errors.
- Free tools like Circle to Search help AI discover images.
AI-generated images are now everywhere. I see them in my news feeds, in Google Images, in Pinterest pins, and even in some ads. They are so pervasive that people have coined the term “AI slop.” Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this flood of AI-generated content on your favorite platforms isn’t going to stop, and it’s only going to get harder to tell what’s real.
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Generative models are getting better every day. When Google released Gemini 3 with its latest Nano Banana Pro image generator, I was amazed at how easily it could create photorealistic images and keep the likeness intact. In seconds I can edit and iterate on any photo until it looks perfect. But that’s the problem. It’s harder than ever to trust what you see online.
So, how can you see an AI image? Here are six signs to spot for fakes, plus my favorite free AI image detector.
1. Crazy text
This is the oldest gift. When AI image generators first became popular, they were notoriously bad at rendering text – and it’s still one of the easiest ways to spot a fake. If you see an image of a poster, book cover, t-shirt or anything else that looks a bit off, my first tip is to zoom in on the text. If the letters look desperate, boring, or pure gibberish, you’re almost certainly looking at AI.
To be fair, AI image models have gotten better, especially Google Gemini, but they still slip. In the example below, I uploaded a screenshot of ChatGPT to Gemini, ironically, and gave it a detailed request to put it on a tablet and overlay that on a green background and logo. I even specified “keep text on image” in my query. The result? Well, at first glance it looked pretty good.
But then I saw it: the text “Ask Anything” was slightly skewed. Sigh. Almost, Gemini. Almost.
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And ChatGPT? Don’t even touch me. Running the same exercise there gave me a messy mess of an image that was so obviously fake it’s not even worth sharing.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming it violated Ziff Davis’ copyright in training and operating its AI systems.)
2. Is that an extra finger?
If illegible text wasn’t clear enough, how about extra body parts?
For whatever reason, AI models have long struggled to generate people with 10 fingers or fingers that don’t melt into each other. Or maybe they are missing knuckles or even nails. If the fingers look good, check for other anatomical irregularities, such as extra limbs or impossibly long (or short) necks and torsos. Look at the wrists, the elbows and finally the faces. Is there only one nostril?
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Take the examples below, generated by Midjourney and shared by a user on X. In one of the photos, a woman is holding a camera with what appear to be nine fingers. The picture otherwise looks quite real, although the subjects have irrelevantly flawless, glowing skin. In the other image, the subject’s ankles are placed too far from the fingers.
These are all AI accidents, and while they are becoming less common, they remain telling signs.
3. Incredible, hyper-realistic appearance
I mentioned looking for faces above, but let’s dial that in a bit more.
When you examine a photorealistic image generated by AI, you may notice that it just doesn’t seem real, despite all the details in the world. The subject may have a dead-eyed look or a vacant gaze with glazed or glazed eyes, or pupils that are not paying attention. The skin may also appear too smooth, almost plastic. The teeth might overlap, and the hair might look a little too wiry.
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Not to pick on Gemini here, but I used Nano Banana (launched before Pro) to edit photos of my son-in-law. He wanted to try out different hairstyles, and while I got a little carried away with giving him hairstyles like a Kiefer Sutherland-style blonde mullet from “The Lost Boys,” I realized that with each generation he became more and more incredible. His skin became poreless, hair flawless, and eyes doe-like.
If you ever notice that someone looks like they’ve been Photoshopped, or you get the feeling that something just isn’t right, it could be AI.
4. Suddenly everyone is a designer
I have to make fun of local small businesses for a second. I’ve noticed over the past few years that every restaurant near me has used AI on their logos, menus and even food photos. Seriously. How do I know these are AI generated? Well, I can tell you that these places didn’t all at once hire a team of graphic designers, illustrators and photographers to create their social posts.
If they did, the results would probably look better.
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See the example below. The food in the photo looks perfect, almost too perfect. It even has a slightly graphic or illustrated look. The meat shines, the burritos are perfectly rolled with no drips, and the wrappers are free of any kind of oil stains.
This was shared on the Facebook page of the business and promoted as the food they make and sell. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather just see real photos of the actual food, even if the lighting or setup isn’t great. Whatever this is convinces me not to buy their food. It just tells me that someone needs to rip ChatGPT out of the hands of whoever posts on their site.
One more example that really makes me shake my head. A Mexican restaurant opened last summer in my town. Do you know what their logo is, plastered all over their menus and social pages? An illustration of a circle on a burrito. Anger?
5. Too much happening (total chaos)
This one is a bit broad, but stays with me. Have you ever seen a picture that just has manner too much happening at once?
I’m talking about weird, repetitive textures, overly intense or hyper-detailed backgrounds, shadows that fall at impossible angles, reflections and glowing lights that defy the laws of physics, and a whole lot of visual noise together for no reason. The whole scene is cranked up to 11, almost like letting a video game engine run a fever dream.
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These images often try so hard to look dramatic or impressive that they end up looking computer-generated in the worst way. In my opinion, these types of AI photos are some of the most obvious fakes out there, but I wanted to include them in case any of you might see them and assume they’re the work of an illustrator with zero sense of white space.
If you see a chaotic image that feels like it’s attacking your eyeballs, it’s probably AI.
6. Lack of detail / too smooth
I’ve talked a lot about how too much hyper-realistic detail is a dead giveaway. But the opposite can also be true.
I recently noticed a local historical group that shares “colorized” and “restored” photos on its Facebook page. Without disclosing that they used AI, it quickly became clear to me that almost everything they shared was touched by AI. I’ve seen the site use AI in some of its promotional posts, including an ad for a ghost tour (pictured below), but using it on old photos felt disingenuous.
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In the other example below, where a century-old building was painted by the group, note that the brick structure has lost all signs of being made of brick. It simply looks plaster-smooth red. The leaves on the trees also fade together, and the people on the porch appear as if they are painted figures. Doesn’t the picture look illustrated? It is not. It is a real photo, but now all the details are lost.
This, my friends, is AI.
Bonus tip: Use free AI image detectors
Enough with the tips that use your eyes and common sense. Let’s go into ways you can use technology to detect AI images.
Google has rolled out free image checking tools that I like to use. On Android phones, for example, you can use Circle to search (long press the home button) to instantly ask if a photo is AI. Google Lens’s “About this image” feature will also give you context about a photo, even if it’s AI generated. If an image is tagged with Google’s own watermark (SynthID), these tools tag it.
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Even the Google Gemini app now lets you upload a photo and literally ask “Was this created with Google AI?” Gemini will check for the SynthID watermark and report back. Even without a watermark, Gemini can use his reasoning to guess.
These tools aren’t 100% perfect, and sophisticated fakes can slip by, but they’re free and easy to try. There are other AI content detectors you can try as well. But many cost money, and since none are completely accurate, you might as well stick with free.
FAQs
Are AI image detectors accurate?
Not always. In my tests they can make mistakes. The New York Times also tested five of the top tools for detecting AI-generated images. These tools analyzed the pixels in the images and looked for clues that could help determine whether they are real or fake. Can you guess what happened? Two of the tools thought an AI photo of Elon Musk kissing a robot was real.
How can I tell if a video is AI generated?
Similar to AI images, AI videos also have their own storytelling features. I have listed them all here to help you determine what is real or not.
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