Buzz
With the development of A.I., media products are prone to forgery.
In recent times, social media has been flooded with lifelike fake images created by artificial intelligence (AI), with some even spreading misinformation, causing users to feel anxious and worried.
For fake images depicting the arrest of prominent national or international politicians, users can verify credible sources and confirm relatively quickly.
However, verifying images depicting everyday life or unknown individuals can be quite challenging.
For example, images of a severe earthquake purportedly shaking the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada in 2001 were shared on the Reddit app. However, the truth is that such an earthquake never occurred, and those images were all generated by AI.
AI tools like Midjourney, Dall-E, and DeepAI can produce fake images that closely resemble real ones within seconds. However, these AI tools still have flaws and glitches, enabling users to distinguish between real and fake images.
DW has compiled some suggestions to help identify whether an image is fake or not.
Zoom in and carefully examine the details of the image. Fake images will reveal inconsistencies and errors that may not be immediately noticeable.
Search for the Image Source
Upload the image to tools like Google Image Reverse Search, TinEye, or Yandex to find the original source of the image. The results of these searches can lead you to reputable sources and provide additional context to distinguish between real and fake images.
Pay Attention to Body Proportions
AI programs like Midjourney or DALL-E still have imperfections and cannot produce perfect images. One of these flaws is the discrepancy in human body proportions in the image, such as overly small hands, overly elongated fingers, extra fingers or toes, strangely distorted eyeglass frames, or ears with unrealistic shapes.
Overly Beautiful, Too Smooth Images
The Midjourney app can generate many unbelievably beautiful images with flawless skin, perfect hair and teeth, pure faces, and harmonious clothing. Therefore, when you see overly beautiful, too smooth images, ask yourself: Are images of such perfect people real?
Many fake images created by AI also possess an artistic, glossy, and sparkling quality to the point of being unbelievable.
Background
Pay attention to the background of an image to see if objects may be distorted, for example, streetlights. In some cases, the background of AI-generated images is blurry.
