Morphed image of wrestlers goes viral: How to spot AI-generated pictures?

The Olympic medal-winning wrestler also posted the real photo of Vinesh and Sangeeta, in which they aren’t smiling. The morphed photo began to be circulated on social media soon after the police detained protesting wrestlers as they tried to march towards the new Parliament building from their site of protest at Jantar Mantar.

IT Cell वाले ये झूठी तस्वीर फैला रहे हैं। हम ये साफ़ कर देते हैं की जो भी ये फ़र्ज़ी तस्वीर पोस्ट करेगा उसके ख़िलाफ़ शिकायत दर्ज की जाएगी। #WrestlersProtest pic.twitter.com/a0MngT1kUa

— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) May 28, 2023

According to experts, the photo in question is not real and an Artificial Intelligence tool has been used to edit the original image and put smiles on the wrestlers’ faces. In the past few months, social media platforms have been flooded by such images, which are either generated by AI or edited using AI tools.

Here are some tips to identify if an image is fake. However, it should be noted that as AI tools are rapidly improving their technology, these suggestions might soon become outdated.

How to spot AI-generated images?

Check image source

Whenever there is doubt about the authenticity of an image, the first and foremost thing to do is check its source. One can do that by reverse image search — just upload the photo on Google Images or tools like TinEye or Yandex to find out its original source.

Look out for body proportions

As per a recent report by DW, it is not uncommon for AI-generated images to display discrepancies when it comes to body proportions. For instance, such photos often show people with hands that are way too big or fingers extraordinarily long.

The report cited the example of a fake image, which surfaced back in March this year, of Russian President Vladimir Putin kneeling before Chinese President Xi Jinping. “The kneeling person’s shoe is disproportionately large and wide, and the calf appears elongated. The half-covered head is also very large and does not match the rest of the body in proportion,” it mentioned.

Observe the hands and smiles

The kryptonite of AI image generators is crafting perfect hands, which are a complex part of the human body. Hands not only consist of numerous joints in a small area but also have dozens of shapes and movements. Therefore, AI tools find it difficult to create them and the images generated by them often distort human hands by adding or removing fingers or twisting them unnaturally.

Apart from hands, AI-generated images many times fail to accurately depict “anything with defined, regular patterns,” news outlet Decrypt said in a report. It added, “For instance, AI-created images of a barefoot person with toned abs and a smiling mouth with visible teeth may probably have too many toes, too many teeth, or perhaps an implausible number of abs.”

Speaking about the morphed picture of Vinesh and Sangeeta, experts say the image is fake as the wrestlers’ teeth appear too perfect to be natural. Another discrepancy is that the AI tool used to edit the real image has given Vinesh and Sangeeta dimples, which they don’t have in reality.

Check the background

One of the weaknesses of AI-generated images is their background. Oftentimes, these photos have blurred backgrounds that seem like a texture and comprise disproportionately shaped objects. The DW report also noted that in a few cases, “AI programs clone people and objects and use them twice” in the background.

Look out for overly smooth textures

Some of the AI image generators produce photos in which people appear to have skin and texture that are excessively smooth and a little too perfect. That’s another sign which indicates the picture might be AI-generated.

What are some notable controversies around AI-generated pictures?

Most recently, a picture of Pope Francis wearing a white puffer jacket went viral on social media with people praising his style. But it turned out that the image was fake and produced by using an AI tool. The tell-tale signs that the image of the Pope was AI-generated included his distorted hands and a warped recreation of his crucifix.