Three ways to spot deepfake AI images pretending to be the real thing

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I must admit that I've become rather good at spotting them, especially on a large desktop monitor rather than a small smartphone. I tend to get an immediate sense of "fake" and then when I look more closely, I can see why. Part of it is the lack of noise, or a look of "perfection" to them that doesn't exist in a real world photo. Other factors come into play too, especially if the creator tries to address this point.

This article will help people to become better at spotting these images for what they are. Can you tell that the image below is a deepfake?

This month, an AI generated image of Katy Perry attending the 2024 Met Gala went viral on X.

The post raked in over 16 million views, with many commenters expressing their shock that the photo had been made using AI.

The post was quickly debunked, with confirmation that Perry hadn't attended this year's Gala, and people noticing that the carpet in the picture was actually from the 2018 Met Gala.

But with AI images and deepfakes now reaching new levels of realism, it can often be difficult to tell the difference between a genuine photograph and an AI generated image.

It can be easy to be fooled by an AI image, so we thought we’d take a look at some of the ways that you can spot that an image might be artificial.

How to spot AI generated images on social media - BBC Bitesize

We look at some of the signs that you can use to tell if an image is AI or real.

www.bbc.co.uk