Spot the AI

In the digital scrapbooking world there are a lot of AI (artificial intelligence) generated art present throughout the various stores and designers. This is the main area where I am accustomed to seeing AI. Recently however, we found our way to one of the big craft stores. Since, I do not visit craft stores too often, we haven’t been in one since the onset of AI. We started noticing in the Wall Art section at the store and how many were actually AI.

My oldest son at home is really good at picking out some of the minutest details that I didn’t notice that show an item’s AI origins. I am more of a “big picture” kind of girl myself, so it’s handy to have his eye for detail around. He has really helped me be able to look a little deeper into things and play “spot the AI”. So I thought I would share some of our collective observations for ways you too can “Spot the AI”, should you want to.

No Signature. One thing I noticed on all the AI art that we spotted in the store, was that it had no artist signature. That can be a first clue. Although, someone can easily transpose a signature onto the AI art – so it does not make any guarantees.

Strange Connections. In AI art branches, strings, wires, ect tend to mingle and connect in ways they do not in real life. Sometimes the strings will just disappear into the background. Other times they merge into places they do not belong.

Lack of Symmetry. Another thing to look for is the lack of symmetry. Science has shown, because of the way our brains are wired, the more a face is symmetrical, we find it to be more pleasing and beautiful. Same with nature, architecture, ect. AI does not readily understand this and often will produce images that are sorely lacking in symmetry, especially when it comes to architecture, it seems, from my observations.

Strange Blobs and Shapes. Often strange blobs or random shapes appear in AI generated images. Look for things that do not make sense in the real world and leave you asking, ‘What is that?’

Indecipherable Text. Older AI art could not get text to look right. Now just so you know, AI generated art is getting much better at putting text onto an image. So in the near future this one will be harder to spot. But when looking at illustrations or photos, you can check the signs in buildings, license plates on vehicles, titles of books, ect and if you see indecipherable text that looks unusually messy or boxy and/or look like symbols out of some science fiction movie, then you are likely looking at AI art.

Malformed Objects. AI tends to get it close-ish, but not quite right. Learn to spot malformed objects and you will be on your way to spotting AI.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the ways you can use to spot AI images – but just a few things we have picked up along the way. Now, here I am sharing some actual examples we found while browsing in the store.

White Barn Wood Wall Decor

Here is a good case for the lack of symmetry I spoke about. When you look at a barn in the real world, you will almost always, see both sides of a barn door to be built the same. AI tends to create one side with one kind of building technique and the other side without, as is shown here. Also, a couple of other clues are the strange shape of the building under the eave on the right, as well as the odd break in shadowing above the window.

Farm Animals Framed Wall Decor

Since when have you seen the hoof of a pig split into threes and it walking on it’s tippy toes? My youngest who is 10 brought out the fact that they do not walk on their toes like that. We raise pigs on our farm, and I can assure you they only have two large ‘toes’ in front. Not to mention we have no ballerina piggies running around in tutus on their tippy toes. This is a good example of a malformed object and aside from that it makes no sense in the real world.

Open Road Brands: Monochrome Small Town Wood Wall Decor

Ok now, this is one of the worst examples that we noticed in the store. This illustration is riddled with so many problems and is so obviously created by some of the earlier versions of AI. First, there is the indecipherable text – some which even look like alien symbols (look at the far right bottom corner in the highlighted rectangle.) Malformed objects, like the oddly shaped rear view mirror on the truck which is placed much to far down on the door to be real. Also, check out all those powers lines. On the left of this illustration they have no lines connected to each other. On the right side they are not connected to the insulators but go straight into the pole itself. That is not how power lines work in the real world. Also, the building on the right has some strange oddity in the center of it. And the arrow on the left side of the Wall Art is pointing to a blurry mess that is supposed to be part of the building but looks more like a bunch of scribbles that begin at that pole next to the tree. There is so much more here, but that’s enough to say quite safely this was created by AI…and older version of AI at that!

Of course aside from paintings and illustrations, photos are generated from AI as well. This is an example I found online at the big craft store’s site:

Dog Shopping For Bread Framed Wall Decor

So I asked myself, are these supposed to be doors or windows?? The left window/door is built differently than the one on the right – there’s that lack of symmetry. Then there are also strange keylike holes in places that do not make sense. There is also AI text which I spotted on the wooden trays holding the bread. Even the moulding in the center of the left window/door starts out flat at the top but turns into a pattern at the bottom. I have lived in a few old houses myself and I am quite used to seeing the progression of time related changes, but there are so many strange anomalies that don’t make much sense with that context.

Now, when we go into the stores, we make it rather a game to “Spot the AI” when looking around. Hopefully, you have found this to be informative.

Disclaimer: Just so you know up front this post is not about the ethics for or against creating and/or using AI art. That is your personal choice based on your own research, thoughts, and/or feelings. Be mindful that I will not be debating, nor will I publish comments that are divisive, or are generally rude in nature. This article is not intended to produce a conversation that way, but has simply been created to help you identify AI Art for whatever your reason is for noticing. If nothing else it is good to scrutinize what we are seeing in this day and age so we can make our own conclusions. I see this is as a skill and tool to be able to navigate in this modern world we live in. So these simply are my observations – not my opinions.