Generative AI art is everywhere, and you may not always know you're looking at images created with an algorithm as opposed to that of a human. Until now, as AI or Not promises to be the best performing checker to recognise if art is AI generated or human-made.
AI or Not , created by Optic, is a free browser-based image checker that can determine if an artwork is human or AI-created, so I figured I'd test it out on some art I quickly create in Procreate and some AI images rendered in DALL-E 2. I upload a quick character sketch and in seconds AI or Not spots it as human-created (why am I getting Blade Runner flashbacks). I then upload a similar sketch created by prompts in DALL-E 2, and the app spots it for being AI-generated.
This image is a paint over of an AI-generated image, and was flagged as being created by AI (Image credit: Future)
This quick Procreate painting was flagged as human-created (Image credit: Ian Dean)
The app works with all of the best AI art generators, including Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and GAN, as well as DALL-E 2. To test the AI or Not app a little further I edit the DALL-E 2 image and reload it, and the app still spot its AI-mess. I then upload more of my quick sketches, and I remain human, flaws and all.
To test the checker a little more I create a quick paint-over of an AI-generated image, as many artists will likely use AI art in this way to plan paintings, set lighting and create accurate perspective. You know what? AI or Not flagged this as AI art. To the naked eye there is nothing left of the original AI image behind my Procreate brush strokes, but AI or Not wasn't conned.
I decide to try one further hack to attempt to trip up the authenticator. I generate a woodland scene in Stable Diffusion and upload this – it's AI-created. I copy and paste the same image and upload this to AI or Not and… it couldn't decide. This is actually impressive, the app didn't say human or AI-made but sat on the fence.
The AI art checker found this image was created by AI (Image credit: Future)
The same image cut and pasted into a new doc left the checker undecided, which in itself is impressive (Image credit: Future)
I'm impressed by the accuracy of AI or Not, and can see how it will become a vital tool for any art directors or media that need to know the rights and owners of images being used in projects and in portfolios. There's a caveat, developer Optic says AI or Not isn't optimised for images generated in Midjourney 5 just yet, but it's coming. If you do need to check the authenticity of art on a regular basis, then AI or Not has a Chrome extension to speed up the process.
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Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.
