How to spot deepfakes and AI-generated images?

Imagine you're looking at a picture that looks real, but it was made by a computer, like a clever trick played by a robot artist. Here's how to spot those tricky AI-generated images and deepfakes.

When the computer makes a picture, it’s like drawing with invisible crayons on a big screen. If you look closely, sometimes the lines aren’t perfect, they might be wobbly or too smooth, like when you draw with your eyes closed.

You can play a game called double-check. Take a picture and squint at it, if it looks blurry, that’s a hint. Or you can zoom in really close, like looking at a tiny bug under a magnifying glass. If the computer made it, parts of it might look too perfect or not quite right.

Sometimes, the robot artist forgets to add real shadows or reflections. Like when your friend draws a cat but forgets to draw its tail, you know something's missing!

If you see a video that looks like someone is talking, but their face doesn’t move exactly like it should, that’s a deepfake, a kind of robot trick played on videos!