AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?

What is real? Well, sometimes it's hard to tell.

As the images we see online become increasingly manipulated, the difference between an AI-manufactured image and a "real" photograph is increasingly hard to discern.

Take a look at the images in this gallery and see if you can spot the real from the fake. The answer will be in the caption for the subsequent photo. For instance, we'll tell you about the image above in the caption for the photo that follows, and so on.

Scroll on and see how you do.

Also see our in-depth feature story: How Close Is That Photo to the Truth? What to Know in the Age of AI

Editors' note: CNET is using an AI engine to help create some stories. For more, see this post.

Answer for photo 1: The image of a dawn marine layer of fog hovering in a valley was AI-generated.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 2.

Answer for photo 2:  Though smooth and painterly, the desert landscape is an actual photograph taken at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park, California.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 3.

Answer for photo 3: It may look like an awkward composite, but the image of people milling about in a glass-walled building interior, taken through the windows above Apple's Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, is a real photograph.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 4.

Answer for photo 4:  It looks like a believable-enough visit to foggy San Francisco, but the image of the couple in front of the Golden Gate bridge was AI-generated.

Notice the image's confusion in the details of the textures on the straps of his backpack, and some problems with the continuity of the lanyard.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 5.

Answer for photo 5: The image of an enthusiastic crowd at a Classixx show at the Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco in 2015 is a real photograph.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 6.

Answer for photo 6: At first glance, it may look normal and real, but the image of three woman at a cafe was AI-generated. 

Notice the two awkwardly placed pink-tipped fingers poking from behind the arm in the foreground. Also, the woman in the center has a jumbled hand, as does the woman on the right.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 7.

Answer for photo 7: It's very cute, but the image of a man and his dog at a campsite was AI-generated. 

Check out some of the image's problems in the man's fingers and his watch and around the dog's tongue. 

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 8.

Answer for photo 8: The image of a smiling Japanese woman at a tiki hut on a beach in Thailand was AI-generated. 

Notice her awkward and elongated arm and fingers.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 9.

Answer for photo 9: The image of a mother and son at a refugee camp in Thessaloniki, Greece, is a real photograph.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 10.

Answer for photo 10: The delicious-looking avocado toast on the dark stoneware plate is nearly perfect, and also AI-generated. 

Notice the strange form of the lime on the left, and the just too perfect texture of the crust.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 11.

Answer for photo 11: On the other hand, the tasty-looking avocado toast on the white paper plate is real food, and a real image.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 12.

Answer for photo 12: Although it is a pretty convincing product shot, the image of the wooden headphones was AI-generated. The textures are flat and lifeless, and the image overall reads more like a 2D rendering than a photograph.

I'd be tempted to buy a pair of them, though! 

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 13.

Answer for photo 13:  The gray headphones, too, are 100% AI-generated.

I find this one very hard to discern. The lighting is very good, but the dimensions of the band look off.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 14.

Answer for photo 14: Although the image of the young woman on a bench is a fantastic, well-lit "portrait," it too was AI-generated.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 15.

Answer for photo 15: The image of the skier standing in the freshly fallen powder in Mott Canyon at Heavenly Resort in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, is a real photograph.

Scroll down to the next caption to find out about photo 16.

Answer for photo 16: The image of the rocky lakeshore, though very much looking like the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe, was AI-generated.

Answer for photo 17: This final image, however, is a 100% real photograph of Lake Tahoe taken in Incline Village, Nevada.

So how'd you do?