12 signs an image is AI-generated
last updated 7 june 2026
The clearest signs an image is AI-generated are malformed hands and fingers, gibberish text on signs or labels, asymmetric details (eyes, earrings, architecture), impossible lighting and reflections, over-smooth "waxy" skin, and backgrounds that warp or repeat. Several tells together is far stronger than any one.
No single artefact proves an image is AI-generated — modern models fix old giveaways constantly — but a cluster of tells is hard to fake. Use this checklist as your first pass, then confirm with provenance metadata and a detector for anything that matters.
verifai automates the first pass: scan a page and it highlights the images that score as likely AI, so you know where to look closely.
The visual checklist
Check these, roughly in order of reliability:
- hands, fingers and limbs — wrong counts, fused or bent
- text — signage, menus and logos that read as gibberish
- teeth and eyes — too many teeth, mismatched or glassy eyes
- symmetry — earrings, sleeves or windows that don't match
- skin — waxy, poreless, airbrushed perfection
- lighting — shadows and highlights that disagree
- reflections — mirrors and water that don't match the scene
- backgrounds — melting, repeating or nonsensical detail
- edges — hair and fur that blur into the background
- accessories — glasses arms, straps and jewellery that merge into skin
- patterns — fabric and tiling that drift or warp
- scale — objects or body parts subtly the wrong size
Confirm before you conclude
Visual tells get you a hypothesis, not a verdict. Check for C2PA Content Credentials or a SynthID watermark (present on DALL·E, Firefly and Google Imagen output), and run a detector for a confidence score. Treat agreement across signals as your answer.
frequently asked
What is the biggest giveaway of an AI image?
Hands and embedded text remain the most reliable tells, followed by broken symmetry and impossible lighting. But top models increasingly get these right, so check several signals together.
Can AI images pass as real photos?
Yes — the best 2026 models routinely fool people on a quick glance. That's why provenance metadata and detectors matter alongside visual inspection.