Use the least altered copy of the image you can find. A screenshot or a copy downloaded from a social feed may have been resized, recompressed, or stripped of metadata.
A step-by-step check
- Find the source. Search the page or account that shared the photo. Look for a photographer credit, original publication, date, or link to an earlier version. A repost gives less context than the original file.
- Inspect visual details. Check geometry, lettering, reflections, and whether nearby objects fit together. One odd detail can come from blur, a small image, or editing, so compare it with the full scene.
- Run the AI Analyzer. Upload the image to the AI image detector. The model returns an AI score and a real-image score. Read the verdict and model signal strength together. A score is a classifier response, not a verified chance that the photo was generated.
- Check EXIF fields. Review the report’s camera, date, lens, and software rows. An EXIF Detector shows fields present in the uploaded file. Missing rows are common and do not count as evidence for AI.
- Compare another source. Search for an earlier publication or another copy. Matching captions, dates, and context can help establish where a file came from. Similar pixels alone do not prove the files have the same history.
How to read the result
If the classifier flags a photo but its source is traceable, inspect the image and the exact copy you uploaded. Editing and compression can affect detector scores. If the classifier finds no strong AI signal, that still does not confirm a camera capture.
When the evidence conflicts, report the conflict. A careful description is more useful than calling the image real or fake based on one tool. See the image authenticity checklist for a compact version of this workflow.