Fact check: How do I spot AI-generated images?

Anyone with an internet connection and access to an artificial intelligence (AI) tool can create photorealistic images within seconds, for free or for very little money, and then spread them on social networks at breakneck speed.

The tools used to create AI-generated images are improving rapidly, reducing the number of obvious AI errors  – often referred to as AI hallucinations – and making it increasingly difficult for users to determine whether a viral image depicts a real event.

Gone are the days when AI tools routinely produced images of public figures with four fingers, an excessive amount of teeth or unnatural body proportions.

An additional challenge is that while many images are entirely AI-generated, others are real photos that have been partially altered using AI.

Here’s one example: an authentic broadcast image from the 2026 World Cup in which a fan was replaced by an Adolf Hitler lookalike .

Of course, the image was actually created using an OpenAI-powered tool.

So how can you spot AI-generated images? DW Fact check offers tips to help you navigate today's information landscape.

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