With the rise of AI tools like MidJourney, NVIDIA, and DALL·E, generating realistic images is easier than ever. These tools are transforming the creative landscape, allowing agencies and marketers to quickly produce high-quality visuals. However, with this innovation comes the need for transparency—both for ethical reasons and to maintain trust with consumers. In this article, we’ll explore five key ways to spot AI-generated images and discuss how creative agencies can harness AI for creativity without misleading audiences.

1. Text and Lettering Issues

‍One of the clearest giveaways of an AI-generated image is the treatment of text. Even the most advanced AI models struggle with generating legible or coherent text:

‍Garbled letters: AI tools often produce nonsense words or misspelled phrases.
‍Inconsistent fonts: Lettering styles, sizes, or positioning may vary strangely within the same image.Tools like DALL·E and MidJourney often focus more on visual elements than on text, which can lead to confusing or incorrect lettering in areas like signage or product labels. If you see text that looks off or is impossible to read, it’s a good sign that AI is at play.

2. Distorted Hands and Fingers

‍One of the most notorious signs of AI-generated images is how the AI handles hands and fingers. Despite advances, AI often struggles to create natural-looking hands:
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‍Extra fingers: Images may show people with more than five fingers or fingers that are fused together.
‍Awkward positioning: Hands might appear bent in unnatural ways or holding objects incorrectly.Even sophisticated platforms like NVIDIA and DeepArt continue to face challenges in accurately generating hands. Spotting these distortions is one of the easiest ways to identify AI-generated content.

3. Flawless, Airbrushed Look

‍AI-generated images often have an overly smooth or polished appearance. This is particularly noticeable with skin and object textures:

‍Perfect skin: AI tends to create skin that is too smooth, lacking the natural pores, wrinkles, or imperfections you’d see in real life. Platforms like This Person Does Not Exist create synthetic faces that often have a "plastic" or flawless look.
‍Overly smooth objects: Background textures or objects might look unnaturally glossy or airbrushed, missing the small details that human-generated art includes.Despite efforts by companies like NVIDIA to improve realism, this overly perfect aesthetic can still give away an AI-generated image.


4. Symmetry and Proportion Issues

‍AI models, while improving, still struggle with perfecting symmetry and balance:

‍Asymmetrical faces: One eye might be slightly larger or positioned differently than the other. A smile may appear uneven, or a nose might look slightly crooked.
‍Distorted proportions: Objects or body parts in the image can sometimes appear out of scale, making the scene look odd.While platforms like MidJourney have made strides in achieving photorealism, these small imperfections in symmetry and proportion are common and often indicate that the image is AI-generated.

5. Repetitive Patterns or Cloning Artifacts

‍AI tools sometimes struggle to introduce variety when generating complex scenes, leading to repetitive patterns:

‍Cloned elements: You might notice the same face or object appear multiple times in a scene, especially in crowds or natural landscapes. This happens because AI is designed to replicate data it knows well, so subtle duplicates might appear.
‍Repetitive patterns: In backgrounds like forests or oceans, AI might duplicate trees or waves in a way that looks too uniform.Tools like Runway and DeepArt sometimes create these cloning artifacts, especially when generating complex environments. Identifying these repeated elements can help you spot an AI-generated image quickly.

Ethical Use of AI in Creative Agencies

For creative agencies, AI is a powerful tool that can enhance workflows, spark inspiration, and streamline the production of visual content. However, it’s important to use AI ethically and transparently. Misleading consumers by passing off AI-generated images as real can damage trust, and agencies must avoid using AI to deceive. Instead, AI should be embraced as a creative partner, used to enhance original ideas rather than replace authenticity.


At Ace Image, we believe in harnessing the creative power of AI responsibly, ensuring that the use of AI-generated images is clear and ethical. We see AI as a way to push creative boundaries while maintaining transparency and trust with our audience.Conclusion: Spotting AI-Generated ImagesAs AI-generated images become more prevalent, understanding how to spot them is increasingly important. Whether it’s garbled text, distorted hands, overly smooth textures, asymmetry, or repeated patterns, there are clear indicators that can help identify AI-created visuals. By recognizing these signs, creative professionals can ensure they use AI in ways that inspire innovation without misleading their clients or audience.