ThinkCritical.eu · Manipulation atlas
Images, video and accountsAI artefacts
Garbled text, wrong anatomy, nonsensical details. Their absence, however, doesn't prove an image is real.
Image generators are improving fast, but they still sometimes give away that a picture didn't come from a camera: lettering falls apart, hands have the wrong number of fingers, objects merge into each other. Such a flaw is a strong clue – but its absence doesn't prove a picture is real.
A “photo” of a protest is circulating on social media, captioned as showing tens of thousands of people. Zoom in and the slogans on the banners are illegible squiggles, two people in the foreground have fused hands, and a railing in the background ends in mid-air.
How to spot it
- Illegible or nonsensical lettering on signs, T-shirts or number plates.
- Wrong anatomy: the number of fingers, teeth, ears, earrings that don't match.
- Objects merge, end in thin air or make no sense (railings, glasses, jewellery).
- Overly smooth, “plastic” skin and strangely perfect lighting.
How to check and what to do
- Zoom in on the details – hands, lettering, the edges of hair and the background.
- Run a reverse image search (e.g. Google Lens or TinEye) to find where the picture first appeared and who posted it.
- Look for the same event in other sources – a real event usually produces many photos from different angles.
- If the file carries Content Credentials (C2PA), check them at contentcredentials.org. Their absence means nothing – social networks often strip them.
Tip: What matters is the image's traceable origin, not how many flaws you find.
Full explanation and exercises:
thinkcritical.eu/en/manipulation-atlas/ai-artifact