The three answers you can get
| Answer | What it rests on | How sure |
|---|---|---|
| AI (red) | The file names a generator, holds a prompt or workflow, carries Content Credentials or an AI label, or has the Stable Diffusion watermark. | Certain for that file. |
| Not AI, probably (green) | The file carries the records only a camera writes, or the picture scores low. | Good evidence for the camera case; a low score still missed 14% of AI pictures in our test. |
| Can't tell (amber or gray) | A middle score, mixed signals, a drawing, or a picture too small to measure. | Not an answer. Look at where the picture came from. |
Why "or not" is the hard half
Finding AI is easier than ruling it out. A generator's own data settles the first; nothing in a file can prove a picture was not generated, because data is easy to strip. So a green card never says "real". It says that nothing here points to AI. Keep that difference in mind when you pass an answer on.
How to use it
- Drop the picture. Use the original file when you can; a screenshot has lost what the file would have said.
- Read the colored headline, then the lines under What this is based on.
- If the answer is amber or gray, open How sure is this? and then check the source of the picture.
Numbers behind the answers
We tested on 249 pictures (142 AI from 18 services, 107 real). The detector flagged 85% of the AI pictures and 25% of the real ones; combined with the picture's size and noise, the score bands held 14%, 67%, 81% and 89% AI from lowest to highest. 57% of the test pictures were AI, so on a pile of mostly real photos a high score is wrong more often than that. More in the AI-or-not checklist and the full guide.
The check runs in your browser. Like every tool here, the page also sends a copy of each picture and its result to our server (see the privacy policy).
Frequently asked questions
Can it say "real" for sure?
No. At best it says the file looks like a camera wrote it, or that nothing points to AI. A stripped AI picture can look like that too.
What if the answer is "can't tell"?
That is an honest answer. Find out where the picture first appeared, look for a larger or older copy, and try a reverse image search. Our checklist guide has the steps.
Why is a quick answer sometimes red and sometimes only a percentage?
Red with 100% means the file itself says an AI made it. A score is a judgment of how the picture looks and is shown with how often that band was right in our test.