Methodology: how we know what is real
A game about spotting fakes is only worth playing if the answers are right. This page sets out the rules we follow.
What counts as proof
A picture or clip is only used when its origin is established by at least one of these:
- The creator says so. The person who made an AI image has said, on the record, that they made it and how.
- The original source. We can point to where a photograph or video was first published: the photographer’s own upload, an agency or an archive such as NASA or a national library, with its date and reference.
- A published fact-check or Community Note. An established fact-checking organisation, or a rated Community Note, has examined the item and shown where it came from.
- Content credentials. The file carries verifiable provenance data that records how it was made.
Each item page lists the proof we relied on, with links, so you can check it yourself.
What does not count
- How a picture looks. “The tells” we describe are there to help you learn. They are never the reason for a verdict.
- AI detector tools. They are wrong too often, in both directions.
- What most people think. Votes are shown for interest. They do not decide anything.
If we cannot prove it
It does not go in the game. Items we are still checking are held back until there is proof, however widely they are being shared.
What “real” and “AI” mean here
Real means made with a camera, and showing what it claims to show. Normal adjustments such as cropping and colour correction do not change that. AI means the picture or clip was produced by a generative AI tool. Pictures that are real photographs edited to mislead are a different kind of fake, and we do not use them in rounds, because the fair answer would be neither.
Where the pictures come from
Real photographs and video come from open archives such as Wikimedia Commons, NASA and national libraries, and from free stock libraries. AI images come from sources where the creator has labelled them as AI-made. Items that went viral are shown with credit to where they first appeared. Every item carries its credit, licence and source link.
How we use AI ourselves
We use software, including AI tools, to help find pictures worth checking and to draft the short explanations. A person checks every item, its proof and its wording before it goes into a round. An AI tool’s opinion is never treated as proof that a picture is real or fake.
Some of the AI pictures in our matched pairs are made by us with an AI image generator, to sit beside a real photograph of the same kind of subject. Their answer pages say so.
How votes are counted
Each browser gets one vote per picture in the current round. The percentages on the site are worked out from those votes. Replaying an old round does not change them.
Corrections
If new evidence shows that an answer was wrong, we will change it, say so on the item’s page and note the date. If you think we have something wrong, please tell us through the contact page and include a link to your evidence.
Rights holders
If you own the rights to something shown here and want it credited differently or removed, contact us and we will act quickly.