Think you can spot a ChatGPT image? Take my real-or-AI quiz and see how many fool you

Date:
Thu, 17 Sep 2026 09:07:39 +0000

Description:
ChatGPT can now create eerily realistic images. I mixed them with my own travel photos, can you spot the fakes?

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter OpenAI launched ChatGPT Images 2.5 last week, bringing all sorts of impressive upgrades to the way it generates images. The company says the latest model will bring us sharper details, faster generation, more precise editing, and better tools for creating and sharing.

Weve already identified the new features of ChatGPT Images 2.5 youll actually use , like Sketch for turning quick drawings into polished images, templates for things like posters and better editing tools. But its not all good news. Were still a little disappointed by the presence of telltale noise patterns
in some of its creations. TechRadar writer Eric Hal Schwartz described the problem well: Everything gets a gritty, sandy look, and nothing looks clean for some reason. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

What Im most interested in isnt necessarily how good ChatGPTs new image capabilities are, but whether they can realistically pass as genuine photos. Is this real or AI? Ive written before about how I love to comb through the r/isthisAI subreddit, where people post suspicious images and ask everyone else to help them work out whether theyre real. You may like ChatGPT Images 2.5 has a noise problem AI is everywhere here's how to spot AI-generated images, videos and scams in 2026 I saw Reddit arguing that Googles AI image generator had got worse

Its fascinating but also concerning when you see the number of scams, fake viral posts and completely fabricated people that are now floating around online.

So yes, ChatGPT Images has improved. But has it reached the point where AI images are becoming genuinely different to distinguish from real ones? Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

The jurys still out. I think well need a bit of time to experiment ourselves and for r/isthisAI to fill up with new images.

But in the meantime, Ive been interested in the way Redditors have responded to the new image capabilities. Especially one thread about asking ChatGPT to make the most realistic human image possible.

The Redditor who started the thread shared the resulting image of a young woman. And, at least at first glance, theres very little about her that screams AI to me. What to read next Reddit users are creating uncanny valley photos with ChatGPT I tried to use ChatGPT to create fake evidence and I
came away worried I tested my knowledge with ChatGPTs quiz feature Can you actually tell which photos are AI now? I decided to experiment with ChatGPT Images myself, especially with prompts like the Reddit thread in which I
tried to get the chatbot to make the most realistic-looking images.

To make the comparison feel as fair as possible, I went through photos from
my own travels this summer and picked some I was happy to share. I then asked ChatGPT to create extremely realistic images with similar subjects, settings and compositions.

For some, that meant asking for a realistic photograph of a blonde woman. For others, I recreated the kinds of ordinary travel photos sitting in my camera roll, which was meals in restaurants, boats in harbors and scenes from walks.

Importantly, I wasnt trying to make spectacular AI art, I really wanted the opposite. Images that were boringly believable.

Take the quiz below to see if you can guess which are the real photos of my travels this summer and which are ChatGPT-generated.

Is that gritty, sandy look still enough to give the AI ones away? Can you focus less on the faces and spot strange details in the backgrounds? Or have we reached the point where your first instinct simply isnt reliable anymore?

Take the quiz and tell me how you get on in the comments below. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/chatgpt/think-you-can-spot-a -chatgpt-image-take-my-real-or-ai-quiz-and-see-how-many-fool-you


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