Think you can spot fake AI photos? They’re now a security risk

I have a challenge for you. Can you spot AI-generated content? And more importantly…. Can you identify such photos and video right now?

Here’s the problem: Generative AI keeps improving, so the clues that let you know it’s not real change continually, too. Back in December, I took an NPR quiz that tested my ability to identify AI slop videos (and failed). I used what I learned there to scroll through my Instagram feed more carefully (and I did actually do better at recognizing fake content).

But last week, the BBC published a quiz for telling apart AI-generated faces from real ones in photographs. (Or arguably, “photographs.”) And suddenly I found myself once more getting tripped up, despite recently reading fresh tips on how to spot AI content.

If this were just about fake but heartwarming animal videos, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal. Unfortunately, scammers use deepfakes to go after ordinary people’s money. Learning to tell the difference between real and fake images can keep your bank balance intact. (And save you from an intense amount of stress, if you’re hit with an emergency scam.)

You can’t rely on deepfake detection tools yet, either. They’re not reliable enough to trust fully. At best, using one is similar to asking a lightly knowledgeable friend for their take. You still have to decide for yourself.

So what’s the latest advice? The BBC quiz shares experts’ tips on what to look for, like facial symmetry and expressiveness. What’s encouraging is a little bit of study goes a long way—researchers discovered detection accuracy rose from 40 to 80 percent among study participants with even just an hour of exposure to real and fake images, plus tips on what to look for.

(I can’t claim that much improvement, but even between the first and second quizzes in the article, I did a lot better during the second go.)

Of course, these new tips won’t help indefinitely—it wasn’t long ago we all looked for six-fingered hands. Generative AI’s development keeps pushing along quickly. Still, awareness is a small victory in this ongoing war of fact versus fiction. Knowing that something could be fake already reduces my automatic acceptance of video and photo as truth.

You know the saying that there’s no such thing as a free lunch? Big tech offers “free” accounts so they can use us for data mining—but fortunately, they don’t hold all the cards. If people protest loud enough, they can get questionable decisions reversed. Just as they did in response to Meta’s approach to rolling out its AI image generation tool more widely.

Scareware is a tactic where bad actors use apps or websites to show fake warnings about your PC, so that you’ll pay for unnecessary services. Some antivirus software blocks it automatically—but did you know that Microsoft’s Edge browser also has free built-in protection against scareware websites?

On some PCs, this feature is on by default. On others (often older), you’ll have to enable it manually. To check, head to Settings > Privacy, Search, and Services > Security. Scroll down and find Scareware blocker. The toggle will be green when on—if not, just click it to activate.