GuideHow to tell if an image is AI generated

Ten checks, strongest first

1. 1

   Look for Content Credentials

   ChatGPT, Gemini, Adobe Firefly and Microsoft Designer sign their images with a C2PA manifest. If it is there, it says how the image was made.

2. 2

   Read the IPTC source type

   The value “trained algorithmic media” in the image's XMP metadata is the industry label for AI-generated.

3. 3

   Find generator settings in the file

   Stable Diffusion and ComfyUI images often still carry the prompt, seed and model name in the PNG.

4. 4

   Run SynthID

   Google's SynthID Detector reads the invisible watermark in images from Google, OpenAI and others, and survives screenshots.

5. 5

   Reverse image search

   Find where the image first appeared. An account that posts AI art, or an earlier version with a watermark, answers the question.

6. 6

   Check hands, teeth and ears

   Extra or fused fingers, too many teeth and mismatched earrings are still the most common tells, though the newest models make fewer.

7. 7

   Read every bit of text

   Signs, labels and logos that are almost-words, or letters that melt into each other, point to a generator.

8. 8

   Follow the light

   Shadows that fall in different directions, reflections that do not match the scene, and glasses or eyes that reflect nothing coherent.

9. 9

   Look at the background

   Repeated faces in a crowd, railings and windows that do not line up, and objects that merge into each other.

10. 10

    Judge the texture

    Waxy skin without pores, hair that dissolves at the edges and an even, rendered sharpness across the whole frame.

Run every check at once

The first four checks are proof straight from the maker; the rest are the tells that give generated images away. Together they catch far more than any one of them.

The Gireta detector above runs them in one go, in seconds, and shows you exactly which ones it found.

What each AI image generator leaves in its files

Most of the big generators now label their images. The label survives as long as nobody screenshots, crops or re-saves the file.

Screenshots, social apps and most image editors strip all of this. A missing label does not mean a real photo.

More ways to check

Questions