How to Spot AI-Generated Images and Deepfake Videos

AI can now create realistic fake photos and videos of people saying or doing things they never did. Here's how to tell what's real from what's artificial.

In this guide (5 steps):

1.Check the Fine Details in Photos
2.Reverse Image Search the Photo
3.Check the Original Source
4.Look for Deepfake Signs in Videos
5.Use Detection Tools for Important Verification

Check the Fine Details in Photos

~26s

Zoom in on any suspicious photo. Check: Are the hands normal? (AI often gets fingers wrong — six fingers, fused joints, or impossible angles.) Is background text readable? (AI-generated text in images is usually garbled.) Do shadows fall in consistent directions? Do reflections in eyes or glasses look natural?

Quick Tip

Faces are what AI gets right — hands and text are where it struggles. If the face looks perfect but the hands look strange, that's a strong signal.

Reverse Image Search the Photo

~18s

On a computer: right-click any suspicious image → "Search image on Google" (Chrome) or go to images.google.com and drag the image in. On phone: press and hold the image in Chrome → "Search image." If the same photo appears under many different contexts or captions, it may be misused or fabricated.

Check the Original Source

~17s

Before trusting a photo or video, ask: where did this originally come from? If someone shared it without a clear source, search for the story on the websites of major news organizations (AP, Reuters, NPR, local TV stations). If a major event happened, multiple credible sources would cover it.

Look for Deepfake Signs in Videos

~25s

Watch for: blinking that's too infrequent or too fast, facial expressions that don't match the emotion in the voice, mouth movements that are slightly out of sync with audio, smooth or waxy-looking skin texture, and inconsistent lighting on the face versus the background.

Warning

These signs aren't foolproof — high-quality deepfakes may not show obvious flaws. When a video shows someone doing or saying something potentially damaging, treat it as unverified until confirmed by multiple credible sources.

Use Detection Tools for Important Verification

~19s

Free tools can help with important verifications: Hive Moderation (hivemoderation.com), Google's About This Image (right-click an image in Chrome → "About this image"), and InVID/WeVerify browser extension for video analysis. These tools aren't perfect but can flag likely AI-generated content. For critical claims, defer to fact-checking organizations like Snopes, PolitiFact, or AP Fact Check.

You Did It!

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AI-generated images and deepfake videos have become much more convincing and much more common. These are photos and videos created or altered by artificial intelligence — showing people, places, and events that either don't exist or never happened. Learning to recognize them is an increasingly important skill.

A deepfake video can make a politician appear to say something they never said. An AI-generated image can show a celebrity endorsing a product they've never heard of. Fake "news photos" of disasters, protests, or crimes can spread across social media in hours and be completely fabricated.

There are telltale signs to look for, though AI quality is improving constantly and some fakes are now very difficult to detect without tools.

For photos, check the fine details: hands often have wrong numbers of fingers or unnaturally bent joints. Backgrounds are sometimes blurry or contain impossible architectural elements. Text within images (signs, labels) is often garbled or unreadable. Lighting and shadows sometimes don't match across different parts of the image. Hair can look waxy or perfectly smooth in unnatural ways. Eyes may lack catchlights (small reflections of light) or look glassy.

For videos, watch for unnatural blinking patterns (too fast or too slow), mouth movements that don't quite match the audio, skin texture that looks smooth or plastic-like, and inconsistent head movement. Audio quality may differ from the video.

Reverse image searching is one of the most reliable methods — if a photo has been circulating under different captions or on multiple unrelated sites, it may be out of context or fabricated.

The best habit is a brief pause before sharing anything shocking or outrageous: does this seem too perfectly timed? Does it confirm something you already believed without question? Those are reasons to verify before sharing.

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