5 quick tips to identify AI morphed images

Not very long ago, the internet broke with the morphed images of wrestler duo Vinesh Phogat and Sangeeta Phogat. The photo in question was not real — an Artificial Intelligence tool was used to edit the original image and put smiles on the faces of the wrestlers.

The point got proved when the real images of the wrestlers also surfaced with wrestler Bajrang Punia filing a complaint against it. To tell you the truth, this is one of the many examples of AI-morphed images surfacing on the internet recently. We bring to you 5 quick tips to identify AI-morphed images online.

Pay close attention to details

Today is not the age to trust anything and everything available online. To find out if the image is original or fake, make sure you pay close attention to the details of the image. Arihant Jain, Co-founder and CEO of AI-driven upskilling platform Seekho says, “It can be difficult to recognise an AI-morphed image, but there are a number of approaches that can assist you. A few of them include inspecting the image for out-of-place or distorted details and paying close attention to the lighting and shadows; irregularities might point to manipulation.”

Quick points to remember:

1. Distorted faces in the background provide a hint that the image isn’t a real one.
2. Out-of-context facial expressions and overly textured or glistening skin are common indicators of AI-generated images.
3. Keep an eye on the hands of the person in the image as many examples have surfaced online where hands were misstructured using AI
4. If the image has an abstract or blurry background, chances are it is AI-generated.

Well, we were taught that the first rule of journalism is to verify the source of the information. This is what we suggest to you as well when it comes to identifying an AI-morphed image. This can be accomplished through a reverse image search, where you simply upload the picture on search engines such as Google Images or utilize tools like TinEye or Yandex to determine the authentic source.

Examine the edges

Check for any irregularities or distortions along the edges of objects or people in the image. AI-generated images may not have perfectly smooth transitions between different elements. “As AI algorithms may have trouble accurately recreating fine details, we should also look for disparities in textures and patterns,” Jain added.

Watch out for watermarks

Alankar Saxena, CTO and co-founder of Indian cryptocurrency exchange Mudrex, the company which has also come up with a generative AI tool as well, suggests keeping an eye out for watermarks is another useful technique to detect AI morphed images. Watermarks are often added by content creators to protect their intellectual property.

Make use of AI detection tools

Sahil Chopra, CEO of digital marketing agency iCubesWire, suggests making use of AI detection tools to detect AI morphed images. Sounds interesting? An AI for AI?

For example, Hugging Face, MorphCast, etc are some of the many AI detection tools that can be used to detect morphed images.

In short, these are quick tips to identify if the image is real or not. Make sure you are not deceived by AI and use it only in a good sense!