Guides to Checking AI Images and Video
Guides to checking whether an image or video is AI-generated: provenance tools, metadata, AI-edited photos, AI art, detector accuracy and social platforms.
Guidance reviewed 2026-10-12. Independent service; no generator affiliation. How we review guidance
These guides explain how to check whether an image or video was made or changed with AI, using evidence you can show to someone else: Content Credentials, invisible watermarks such as SynthID, file metadata, platform labels and the claim around the file. Each guide names the sources behind its claims and says where a check stops.
New to this? Start with how to tell if an image is AI-generated, then try the C2PA checker or the metadata viewer on the original file. If you suspect a particular tool, see the AI detectors by generator.
Social platforms often strip metadata and apply their own AI labels, so the platform pages explain what those labels mean on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok, and why a missing label proves little.
Guides and provenance tools
- How to Tell If an Image Is AI-Generated
A step-by-step, evidence-first way to tell if an image is AI-generated: check the claim, the original file, Content Credentials, SynthID, metadata and visual clues.
- How to Tell If a Video Is AI-Generated
How to check if a video is AI-generated: platform labels, Sora and Veo provenance signals, Gemini's SynthID check, C2PA Content Credentials and context clues.
- AI Image Metadata Viewer: EXIF, IPTC, C2PA
Check image metadata for AI clues in your browser: IPTC Digital Source Type, PNG generation parameters, C2PA manifests, EXIF software tags, and why metadata misleads.
- Are AI Image Detectors Accurate?
Why AI image detectors give false positives, how to read accuracy claims, and how to use a detector score responsibly alongside provenance and context.
- How to Tell If a Photo Is AI-Edited
Is this image AI-edited, AI-altered or just Photoshopped? Check edit metadata and Content Credentials in your browser, compare with the original, and know the limits.
- Is This Art AI? How to Check AI Art
How to check if art or an illustration is AI-generated: provenance metadata, process evidence such as layers and timelapses, why detectors struggle, and fair next steps.
- C2PA Checker: Verify Content Credentials
Check C2PA Content Credentials free in your browser with no upload: what a manifest records, how validation works, and why missing credentials prove nothing.
- SynthID Detector & Checker: How to Verify
How to check an image, video or audio file for a SynthID watermark with Google's official detector tools, what “not found” means, and how SynthID differs from C2PA.
Check by platform
- Is This Instagram Post AI? How to Check
How to tell if an Instagram photo or Reel is AI-generated: Meta's AI info label, why screenshots lose provenance, and how to check the original file and claim.
- Is This YouTube Video AI? How to Check
How to tell if a YouTube video is AI-generated: where the altered or synthetic content label appears, what automatic C2PA labels mean, and why unlabeled isn't proof.
- Is This Facebook Image AI? How to Check
Check whether a Facebook photo is AI-generated: read Meta's AI info label, trace the earliest source, and understand why reposts lose provenance metadata.
- Is This TikTok Video AI? How to Check
How to tell if a TikTok video is AI-generated: creator AI-generated labels, automatic Content Credentials labels, and what frame-by-frame review can miss.
A file report is one clue. Review its evidence and limitations.
Check an image