How to use this gallery

Compare real photographs with AI-generated images side by side. Look for telltale signs like unnatural hands, inconsistent lighting, or strange textures. Each example highlights specific features to watch for.

Real photo of a woman smiling
Real photo
AI-generated portrait of a woman
AI-generated

Portrait analysis

Notice the differences in the eyes, skin texture, and hair details. AI-generated portraits often have perfectly symmetrical faces, unnaturally consistent skin texture, and trouble with hair strands and teeth.

Look for these signs

  • Unnaturally perfect skin with no pores or blemishes
  • Symmetrical facial features that are too perfect
  • Eyes with identical reflections or unnatural sharpness
Real photo of hands
Real photo
AI-generated image with distorted hands
AI-generated

Hand distortions

Hands are consistently one of the most challenging features for AI to generate correctly. Look for extra fingers, fused fingers, unnatural positions, or strange proportions.

Common hand problems in AI images

  • Too many or too few fingers (often six fingers)
  • Blurred or fused fingers without clear separation
  • Incorrect proportions or impossible finger bending
Real photo showing natural background details
Real photo
AI-generated image with background inconsistencies
AI-generated

Background inconsistencies

AI often struggles with background details and physics. Look for strange architecture, impossible reflections, and inconsistent lighting or shadows. Text and patterns in the background are also often distorted.

Watch for these background issues

  • Buildings with impossible architecture or perspective
  • Shadows pointing in different directions or missing entirely
  • Garbled or nonsensical text on signs or labels
Real photo with correct reflections
Real photo
AI-generated image with unrealistic reflections
AI-generated

Texture and material issues

AI struggles with realistically rendering certain materials and textures. Metal, glass, water, and reflective surfaces often show telltale signs of AI generation. Look for odd reflections, inconsistent shininess, and unnatural material behavior.

Material giveaways in AI images

  • Metallic surfaces that don't reflect light correctly
  • Glass or water that doesn't distort background elements naturally
  • Jewelry with physically impossible gem cuts or settings
Real photo of water droplets with natural refraction
Real photo
AI-generated image with unrealistic water behavior
AI-generated

Physics and natural forces

AI often misunderstands how physics works in the real world. Look for incorrect water flow, impossible fabric draping, strange gravity effects, or smoke/fire that doesn't behave naturally. These physics-based errors are strong indicators of AI generation.

Physics errors to watch for

  • Water that doesn't ripple, splash, or flow naturally
  • Fabrics that defy gravity or don't wrinkle realistically
  • Smoke, fire, or fog with unnatural patterns or movement
Real photo of a cat with accurate anatomical features
Real photo
AI-generated image of an animal with anatomical errors
AI-generated

Animal anatomy errors

AI often makes mistakes with animal anatomy that can be easy to spot. Look for incorrect leg joints, wrong numbers of toes/claws, misplaced or oddly shaped ears, and unnatural fur or feather patterns. These anatomical errors are clear indicators of AI generation.

Common animal anatomy issues

  • Incorrect number of toes or claws (especially on cats and dogs)
  • Leg joints that bend in physically impossible ways
  • Eyes with incorrect placement, size, or pupil shape for the species
Real photo with text on signs or labels
Real photo
AI-generated image with garbled or nonsensical text
AI-generated

Text and typography issues

AI typically struggles with generating coherent text in images. Look for text that appears like gibberish, inconsistent letter spacing, words that blend into nonsense, or characters from multiple languages mixed together. Text on signs, labels, or products is often a dead giveaway of AI generation.

Text red flags in AI images

  • Words that start coherently but devolve into nonsense
  • Letters with inconsistent styling or spacing within the same word
  • Text that doesn't maintain proper perspective with its surface
Real photo of a city scene with accurate perspective
Real photo
AI-generated image with perspective errors
AI-generated

Perspective and spatial issues

AI often struggles with maintaining consistent perspective and spatial relationships. Buildings may have physically impossible layouts, horizons might be inconsistent, and objects can appear to exist in different perspective planes. These issues are particularly noticeable in architectural and interior scenes.

Perspective errors to look for

  • Multiple vanishing points that don't make physical sense
  • Objects that appear to exist in different spatial planes
  • Architectural elements that couldn't physically connect in real life
Real portrait photo with natural depth of field effects
Real photo
AI-generated image with depth and focus issues
AI-generated

Depth and focus issues

AI often has difficulty with realistic depth of field and focus effects. In real photography, objects at similar distances from the camera share the same focus level. AI images may show foreground elements with inconsistent blur, impossible focus planes, or unnatural bokeh (background blur) effects.

Focus and depth inconsistencies

  • Objects at the same distance having different levels of focus
  • Unnatural bokeh effects that don't match how real lenses work
  • Selective blur that doesn't follow natural optics principles
Real photo of a crowd with unique individuals
Real photo
AI-generated image with duplicated or similar-looking people
AI-generated

Repeated elements and patterns

AI models often reuse and duplicate elements within the same image. Look for repeated faces in crowds, identical objects or patterns, or suspiciously similar elements. In real photos, even similar objects (like trees or people) have natural variation. AI-generated images may show the exact same pattern, facial features, or details copied across the image.

Repetition patterns to identify

  • Identical faces or body features in crowd scenes
  • Repeated textures or patterns with exact duplication
  • Environmental elements (trees, buildings) that are suspiciously identical
Return to main guide

Photo credits

Portrait - Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Hand - Photo by Joel Timothy on Unsplash

Background - Photo by Enrique Alarcon on Unsplash

Reflections - Photo by Yasmina Black on Unsplash

Water - Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Cat - Photo by Max Do on Unsplash

Signs - Photo by Jon Sailer on Unsplash

Perspective - Photo by Gilberto Olimpio on Unsplash

Bokeh - Photo by Tom Morbey on Unsplash

Crowd - Photo by Nicholas Green on Unsplash