General Knowledge
Real or AI Generated Quiz
Can you spot AI-generated content? Test your digital literacy across deepfakes, AI art, voice cloning, and viral hoaxes.
Can you spot AI-generated content? Test your digital literacy across deepfakes, AI art, voice cloning, and viral hoaxes.
In March 2023, an image of Pope Francis wearing a white Balenciaga puffer jacket went viral — millions of people believed it was real. It was created in minutes by a Chicago construction worker named Pablo Xavier using Midjourney. That single image sparked a global conversation about AI-generated media and our ability to detect it. This quiz tests everything you know about spotting AI content, from visual artifacts to deepfake tells to landmark hoaxes.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll explore the history of image-generation tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion; common AI image artifacts such as extra fingers, asymmetrical earrings, and garbled text; deepfake technology and detection methods; voice cloning risks; famous viral AI hoaxes; AI text detection tools; pre-AI photo manipulation history; and emerging standards like C2PA and the EU AI Act.
Common tells include extra or malformed fingers, asymmetrical accessories like earrings, garbled or nonsensical text in the image, unnaturally smooth or waxy skin, inconsistent shadows, and hair that merges with backgrounds. Checking EXIF metadata (which AI images often lack) and using tools like Google reverse image search can also help. However, the technology improves rapidly and these tells are becoming harder to spot.
A deepfake is a synthetic media file — video, audio, or image — in which a person's likeness or voice has been digitally manipulated using deep learning AI. The term combines "deep learning" and "fake" and dates to 2017 when a Reddit user posted face-swapped videos using autoencoder neural networks. Notable examples include Tom Cruise deepfakes created by VFX artist Chris Ume. Detection methods include looking for unnatural blinking patterns, edge artifacts around the face, and inconsistent skin texture.
The legality of AI images varies by jurisdiction and use case. In general, generating AI images for personal or creative use is legal in most countries. However, creating deepfakes of real individuals without consent — especially for deceptive, defamatory, or sexual purposes — may violate laws around fraud, defamation, privacy, or non-consensual intimate images. The EU AI Act (2024) introduced specific requirements for labeling AI-generated content. Adobe's Content Credentials standard offers a voluntary watermarking system to disclose AI involvement in image creation.
Last updated: March 2026