How Do You Know If A Video Is AI-Generated?

At first, algorithm-generated content was limited to pictures alone, but this has now transcended into videos. These videos have rapidly developed over the years, making it much more difficult to know when you can trust your eyes and when you shouldn’t.

However, regardless of how advanced artificial intelligence may be, there are still certain tips that can point out the flaws of deep-fake videos. We shall take this one after the other as we progress in this write-up. Dive in.

This is the most basic means by which AI-generated videos give themselves away. Usually, the algorithm watermarks such videos it generates. For instance, looking at DALL-E2 videos, you are sure to find watermarks in the form of five colored squares on every piece of content downloaded from the website.

However, this may not be valid in the long run because sometimes AI platforms allow users to download the generated content without the watermark. Thus, watermarking may not be a viable alternative to detecting AI videos.

As a way of detecting videos created by machine algorithms, look out for strange shadows, blurs, or even light flickers. This is because in such videos, light or shadows may sometimes flicker on only the face of the person in view. And this is very much true, especially when it’s a video gotten from low-quality deep fakes.

Of course, AI can never give off an illusion of fluency and seamlessness as the actual human would. Thus, another way of detecting videos made from machine learning is the body language. Algorithms usually find it difficult to replicate humans, so if the body language is off, then it may be time to question the credibility of the video.

An example of such body language that may be off is the character not blinking at all throughout the video.

Audio is another means by which AI-generated content can be detected. In the early years of artificial intelligence, the sounds created were either disfigured, distorted, or muffled, making it obvious that they weren’t natural. But in recent times, that seems to have changed as synthetic sounds tend to come out almost human-like.

However, this doesn’t mean it is completely devoid of issues. One may notice choppy sentences or even background sounds in some of those videos, thereby giving them away.

One would expect that since it’s machine-generated, certain things, including text on clothing, should be a given. But this is not so. Usually, with AI, the texts on deep-fake videos are utter and indecipherable jargon. So, if you wish to know if that image is fake, then zoom in and check it out.

This one is common to both video and images created by algorithms. You can easily notice deepfake videos through the unnatural or poorly drawn human features. This is very common in the characters' hands, smiles, and eye gazes in such videos.

Sometimes, you may notice people with six fingers or someone with two right arms and hands. If so, then it’s a no-brainer that you’re dealing with a fake video.

Additionally, in an attempt to determine how true a video is, it never hurts to trace the source of the video. Although this may turn out to be difficult, especially if it’s a viral video, it is essential to confirm if you’re looking at a fake.

Moreover, if the video contains political or any other mainstream news, look into it and see if other media outlets are reporting such news. If not, then it means the video is questionable.

In this age and with the advent of AI-generated videos, there has been a launch of tools to detect synthetic videos. Such tools as Generative Adversarial Networks and GAN make use of algorithm detectors to discover when generative content is present in videos. Although the accuracy may not always be 100% in conjunction with all the other tips listed above, you can do just fine with it.

While AI can bypass some of the above-listed giveaway features, it is impossible for it to be 100% free of flaws. This is because, usually, at least one of the visual details will have something lacking in authenticity. Therefore, in this world of deep-fake videos, always feel free to question the credibility of video content you see; good luck.