While fake and doctored images have been around for as long as the Internet, recent machine learning advances have made it trivial for anyone to dabble in the practice. Thanks to AI image generators like Midjourney, Microsoft Designer, and DALL-E 3, anyone can conjure up a convincing-looking scene within seconds. It’s easy to see how such images can easily manipulate entire populations and spread misinformation. Fortunately, all hope is not lost — here are some strategies we can employ to spot AI-generated images.
How to spot an AI-generated image
AI image generators are the result of two new technologies: large language models and diffusion models. You may already be familiar with large language models like GPT-4 that can understand nuances in human language. Diffusion models, meanwhile, have been trained on millions of images and can reconstruct realistic-looking scenes from random noise.