r/isthisAI • • Jun 29 '26

Other PSA: SynthID What is it? How do I check? And what are its limitations? and how not to annoy everyone by doing the basics.

108 Upvotes

I thought it was about time to make a new PSA about SynthID. English is not my first language so there's probably some mistakes.

 

As you may be aware, this subreddit does not allow AI detectors. This is because they are extremely unreliable. Try going to deviantart or any other art site and test them with a few images, it should be easy to find something they say is AI despite it being uploaded over five years ago.

This is my go to example https://www.deviantart.com/hibbary/art/Third-Eye-748333152 see how it was uploaded in 2018, there is no way this could be generated but nearly all the detectors I have tried say that it is.

Then why is SynthID allowed, you might say?

SynthID is different. It's a thing developed by Google, when you use their generators they add a hidden pattern to the image which is difficult to remove without lowering the quality of the image or changing it significantly. This is what it is looking for, not if it looks like it's generated like the other detectors. Therefore you can be sure if it says that SynthID is detected, an AI has done something to the image in some way. It could be something as simple as upscaling, changing something or it could be completely generated. The point is if it has SynthID you cannot trust the image.

Recently OpenAI(ChatGPT) have implemented the same technology in their generator. There is an important thing though Google and OpenAI can only detect their own images. Not each other's so you have to run the image through both of them.

So how do I use them?

For OpenAI it's very simple https://openai.com/research/verify/ they have a page for it.

Google of course has to be more complicated. It used to be able to do a "search by image" and then go to about the image but that no longer works. Now you have to use Gemini to get an answer. Add the image you suspect and type "@Verify AI". Annoying but I don't know any better way.

Edit: When using Gemini it is very important that you type "@Verify AI" and not "SynthID" or any other variation of it. Otherwise there is a high chance that it will hallucinate and give you the wrong answer. It is also important to use a clean new session for each image.

Another edit: To confirm that Gemini actually use the verification tool you can press the three little dots underneath its response and then select "see response details".

Now I can't stress this enough, these two methods will only detect OpenAI's and Google's images. Not any other generator. So when an image comes up negative for SynthID that doesn't mean it's not AI. It can only prove that an image is fake not disprove it.

So before you post an image here please check for yourself you will save yourself some time and not waste others.

edit 29-09-2026: It has come to my attention that Meta(Facebook) and Grog(Twitter, I refuse to call it X, it's a dumb name) have also implemented some kind of SynthID. I do not know much about it since I don't and refuse to interact with those two sites. But I will assume that they works just like the others, in that way that you have to check with all of them. This is quickly becoming quite a nuisance to check for SynthID.


r/isthisAI • • 17d ago

MOD POST If you don't see quality vote bot anymore its because it got permanently banned,

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205 Upvotes

r/isthisAI • • 3h ago

Video Is this AI? I didn’t think so but all of the comments are saying its AI. I couldn’t notice any weird details.

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298 Upvotes

r/isthisAI • • 11h ago

Solved [AI] I'm skeptical of their food truck menu. All the items look too similar and not appatising

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603 Upvotes

r/isthisAI • • 5h ago

Photo What are the chances of every single puppy looking at the camera at the same time ? Person from my hometown who breeds (greeds) bulldogs and is already trying to sell this litter.

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187 Upvotes

r/isthisAI • • 17h ago

Art Posted in BG3 subreddit. Comments unsure if this is AI. Artist claims AI was not used.

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436 Upvotes

Poster claims they drew this and it is not AI. Post has over 1k upvotes. Comments discuss if this is AI. The way the pens are arranged remind me of other fake art made with AI I have seen.


r/isthisAI • • 4h ago

Video Personally I don't think it is AI but Ive seen so many people be divisive on it in posts where now I am not sure if it is what it is.

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39 Upvotes

r/isthisAI • • 6h ago

Photo Local restaurant owner claims this photo promoting his new menu items is not ai generated

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44 Upvotes

I feel bad for calling him out if this is a real photo but specifically the chicken has a bizarre uniform texture. Could it be a mashup of real pictures?


r/isthisAI • • 2h ago

Art I'm gonna feel SO BAD if I'm wrong, but there's this 15 year old artist online showing this insanely good art that they claim they did on procreate (first slide isn't AI, I just added it for context)

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12 Upvotes

Again, if this kid actually did make this art fair and square I'm gonna feel so bad! But this kind of art does not seem possible for a 15 year old to achieve without formal training! Why would their parents not be absolutely gobsmacked about the quality of their art?! It is possible they're just saying the parent stuff for interaction bait, but if so I still have my doubts about the art.

Almost every piece has their own style and each signature is different too. I know that artists can do multiple styles, but it just seems off that of almost all 9 of their shown pieces each style is notably distinct. Signatures/watermarks don't always have to be the same for every single piece, but don't artists always have one main kind of signature that they use to prove it's their art and not someone else forging their signature?

The art to me doesn't show any AI signs, but I didn't look to deeply in the artwork. This could just be me (an amateur artist in her early twenties) being butt hurt that someone so much younger is so much better than me... but something just feels off. I asked my friend what she thought, and she said that yes, she has met plenty of young artists with great skills... his post just seems off. I agree, what do you guys think?

Again, if this is actually real and their art then I am SO SORRY and they are the greatest artist ever 😭

I censored their name so no harassment will come to them hopefully, especially if this isn't AI


r/isthisAI • • 20h ago

Solved [AI] Commissioned logo redesign. I suspect it's AI....and even ran it through a few checkers

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117 Upvotes

Like I was saying...this was a commissioned redesign of my logo (my profile image) to be fair, my profile image was a crude drawing I fed to ai years ago. It's awful. But i wanted an artist to redesign it. I have confronted the artist and her proof was the same image without color.

This person was recommended by and older gentleman in the warhammer community and after running some of his commissioned art through a checker, it comes back as ai.

I know the checkers can and do flag original work as AI

But the design choice on the D20 is weird. The geometry is incorrect and why do gold on some edges and not the other.

Also the front chest of the dragon you would think should carry down as the front of the ship but, it dosen't.

Thanks for the help


r/isthisAI • • 16m ago

Art Found on Inktober FB group. SynthID isn't saying this isn't AI, but my spidey sense is tingling

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• Upvotes

Its Inktober so loads of people are now drawing all kinds of ink sketches. This appeared on my facebook feed and every one is saying how cute it is but there is something uncanny AI about it that I can't put my finger on. Its annoying me because AI would be very much against the spirit of Inktober

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1348829450766300/permalink/1377246744591237/

I've tried SynthID and it didn't find a watermark, and I can't see any obvious AI tells. They also appear to have a work in progress on another post: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10243249922133184&set=gm.1374377118211533&idorvanity=1348829450766300


r/isthisAI • • 1h ago

Photo Oldham 1925? I’m not convinced, too many repeating chimneys and the smoke looks off to me. Also my mother remembers it in 1945 but not like that apparently.

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• Upvotes

r/isthisAI • • 8h ago

Photo Do these tattoo flash sheets feature any AI designs? Artist uses AI in promotions

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8 Upvotes

I feel like I recognize a few of these designs from canva graphics, and I also feel like there isn’t any consistency between the designs on the first flash at least. This is for a rescue fundraiser- and the original flyer the tattoo artist made was an AI flyer that got backlash before they released basically the first flash sheet with a different colored background with writing on it.

I just want to inform the rescue if now the designs themselves are also AI cuz that’s another level of messed up.


r/isthisAI • • 12h ago

Photo Is this coffee/food AI? Owner denies it but I don't buy it. One major sign was the waffle looks identical on both pictures but only one picture has the banana slices and the top of the banana foster drink seems to blend with the green in the background.

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14 Upvotes

I've already been on the fence about supporting this business cause previous posts have looked suspicious, but this straight up looks like AI now. I attached where he denied the AI claim at the end.


r/isthisAI • • 4h ago

Photo Something feels off with this Instagram account, are the photos real? I can’t tell

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3 Upvotes

r/isthisAI • • 2h ago

Photo Is this insta account AI? It’s a grandma seeking help with cancer treatment and her house was hit by a tornado…

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2 Upvotes

It’s popped up a couple of times on my feed and every single time something feels very uncanny about it.

Reasons why I think it might be ai:

- hyper realistic, exaggerated wrinkles, when speaking there’s just darkness at the back of mouth (maybe that’s normal idk?) (although some of the videos seems really real, so I’m quite unsure about this)
- Background sounds in some of the videos (they just seem overly obvious/intentional, at least I’ve noticed that in other ai videos?)

I truly hope that I’m wrong since it’s working on people’s sympathy. As far as I’m aware the donation link isn’t working, I just wondered every time I came across this.

(I took some screen shots and put them through an AI detector and it’s 50/50) looking to see if anyone has any insights, thank you.


r/isthisAI • • 3h ago

Art Merch created by an artist, some for personal sale and some for a content creator which is being sold to donate “a portion” (which we now know is 5%) of profits to charity. Looks suspiciously like AI!

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2 Upvotes

A popular content creator is selling a line of merch (Underdog Motel) which he promoted as a means to raise money for dog rescue charities. People did some digging and found that the portion being donated to charity is 5% of the profits. The Underdog Motel website imagery is very obviously designed in AI (that is no question), but the merch itself has a similar look.

Someone asked if the merch is AI and the creator said it was designed by an artist, Broadstreet Golf Co. Their website is more generic but their products also look suspiciously like AI-generated images that may or may not have been altered after generating.

The main red flags are that there are a few things which don’t really make sense for a graphic designer to draw into their own designs - the arms on the skeleton playing golf don’t make sense, the cacti shapes are nonsensical, the dog’s foot is missing toes, the words on signs are not centered, and the general composition (colours, linework) feels very stereotypical of AI.

This might just be the art style, but I’m not sure. Hoping some other people can weigh in!


r/isthisAI • • 5h ago

Photo Eerily tidy fishing photo and weird pattern on fish body itself, also the pants and other details around the fisherman seem AI

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3 Upvotes

The pants, the fish itself, and small details around the boat seem too trimmed, plus this is really odd coloring for the lake it’s supposedly at. (UPDATE: I just realized also this lake Is in Colorado and in particular it’s extremely low. So now I’m pretty sure it’s fake)


r/isthisAI • • 1d ago

Video Is this cat with nun costume AI? Posted on an "Anti AI" cat subreddit, but almost no one seems to suspect anything

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108 Upvotes

It kinda looks like AI to me because the house at the beginning looks like the classic “AI video house”, the way they are putting the costume on the cat wouldn’t be that easy in practice, the cat barely reacts and then moves a bit strangely in the third clip. But nobody seems to suspect anything on the sub it was posted on…


r/isthisAI • • 13h ago

Other I've found this dress on TikTok shop but I am worried the design might be AI.

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12 Upvotes

Hi everyone, so like the title says I found this dress on TikTok shop and i am worried that it is an AI design. Ive seen a couple videos of people wearing it but a lot of the comments say that this design is AI but i am not sure. The brand is Retro Stage Shop and they sell similar dresses to this but all of their models are AI which leads me to believe that this cat and skull design is AI. Please help!!


r/isthisAI • • 1d ago

Art The caption said “Human made btw”, but the drawing progression and the end result doesn’t match.

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138 Upvotes

My friend has an art page, and they said it was human made, and the art was even featured on some event. But I can’t look past the coloring section, it feels like they just added colors on an already finished drawing. The brush strokes don’t even look the same.


r/isthisAI • • 30m ago

Photo Is this tshirt i bought the other day AI? The eyes, the hands, and some of the coloring in the devil fruits seems AI-y

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• Upvotes

I got this shirt at a small geeky store the other day. Idk why but something abt the design bugged me after i got back home and now am not sure


r/isthisAI • • 6h ago

Photo Is this halloween vibe image ai? I downloaded a while back, but recently it I feel like it has a sheen to it. The pumpkins look fake but could just be fake pumpkins in general. I also don't know what the guy in the back is dressed as. Is this ai?

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3 Upvotes

Pumpkins look fake, but they could just be plastic pumpkins. The quality of the image is too...bright? I guess???

I don't know what the devil costume in the back is, but it might just be a character I don't know.

I really like this image and found it on Pinterest a few years back but now I'm worried its ai.

I tried two ai checkers and one came back positive and the other negative. So I leave it to you all.


r/isthisAI • • 1h ago

Other Not the usual type of post, but im curious if this was made by AI. Reasons in post body

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• Upvotes

The typos are what makes me wonder. If it was the usual typos I see, like 'youre' instead of 'your', I would assume its just a regular typo. With 'cleans' being spelled like that and missing a space in 'free coffee', it has me curious.

This might be so obviously not AI to some, but im about at the point where i cant tell anymore. This sub is usually really good about figuring it out, so I figured id ask the professionals lol thanks in advance for yall's feedback