Spot fake AI images
Is this photo fake?
A year ago this would have been easy. Hands, hair, teeth — that was the usual checklist, because AI regularly got those wrong: six fingers, hair blurring into the background, teeth that looked off. Not this time. The hands here are correct. The hair is fine. This one takes a closer look.
Five Six things wrong with this photo
1. The smiles are too perfect. Real, candid laughter rarely produces two completely matching smiles. These two are identical — evenly spaced, same shade, same shape. More like a dental advert than two friends caught mid-laugh.
2. The collar sits differently on each shirt. Look at the black trim around the neckline — straight on one side, very slightly crooked on the other. These are meant to be a matching kit.
3. A logo appears on one shirt and not the other. Same team, same moment — but the small white mark near the shoulder is only on one of them.
4. Both shirts look freshly ironed. This is meant to be a photo taken during or after a match. Real kit creases, sticks to skin, shows sweat. These don’t.
5. The badge doesn’t actually say anything. It looks like a crest with writing on it — shield, banner, lettering. Look closely and the letters don’t form real words.
6. Look at number 14. Her head is facing the camera. Head is back to front.
Other things worth checking on other photos
Not every fake will show these same five signs. Other places worth a look: backgrounds (architecture that doesn’t quite make sense, windows that don’t line up), matching details in general (two earrings, two eyes — AI draws each one separately, so pairs often don’t agree), and shadows (check whether everyone in a photo is lit from the same direction).
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Who uses fake AI images — and why
Scammers. Romance scammers and Sha Zhu Pan (សាជូផាន់) operators use AI-generated profile photos. The attractive person who messaged you may not exist. A reverse image search won’t catch a freshly generated fake, because it’s never appeared online before.
Political manipulation. Fake images can put someone at an event they never attended, saying things they never said. This happens in Cambodia and worldwide.
The real lesson here: fake photos are getting harder to spot. Hands used to be the weak spot of AI — not any more.
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