Can you tell the difference between a real photo and an AI generated image?

With AI image generation easily accessible and popular models from Dall-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney delivering realistic results, you're probably not surprised that some people are unable to tell the difference between a real photo and an AI-generated image.

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A new study from Microsoft, which included 287,000 "image evaluations" with over 12,000 participants, shows that people can only accurately tell the difference between real and AI-generated images 62% of the time. An alarming figure, and one that showcases how far AI image generation has come, and the need for AI-detection tools so people are aware that what they're looking at is, well, "fake."

If you're thinking that you'd be in the top percentile that can tell an AI photo from the real thing, you can take the quiz used in the research paper to find out. Simple head here and take the 'Real or Not?' quiz to see how you fare. Prepare to be humbled, as it can be a lot harder than it looks.

"Participants were most accurate with human portraits but struggled significantly with natural and urban landscapes," Microsoft explains, highlighting that realistic humans are still an area where AI can improve.

This quiz and research paper only cover AI-generated images that are meant to look like photographs, and do not cover artwork or other digital media that mimics the style of human artists. That's another area where it's easy to get "fooled" into thinking that what you're looking at is a genuine hand-drawn or digitally painted piece of art versus something generated by a powerful and complex AI model. Either way, it's another reminder that robust tools and checks are needed to ensure that AI-generated content can always be verified as such.

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"These results highlight the inherent challenge humans face in distinguishing AI-generated visual content, particularly images without obvious artifacts or stylistic cues," Microsoft continues. "This study stresses the need for transparency tools, such as watermarks and robust AI detection tools, to mitigate the risks of misinformation arising from AI-generated content."

And just in case you're wondering, yes, all images in this article were AI-generated - using Midjourney v7.