AI vs Humans: How to tell if it's genuine

More than half the content online is being generated by AI.

That’s according to a study by Amazon Web Services in Q3 2024. Software company Ahrefs conducted a more recent survey in Q2 2025 and found that 74.2% of new web pages contain AI-generated content. AI’s primary benefit is, of course, speed. Unfortunately, this means that AI tools can generate more “junk” than human writers can produce. So, even with a decades-long head start for humans, AI-generated content is overtaking content written by humans virtually overnight.

Knowing this, many of us are putting up our defenses, skeptical that any image is real or that any written piece came from a human mind. How can we tell if the communications we’re consuming were created by humans or generated by AI?

AI-generated images are becoming increasingly difficult to spot every day. 

“Look at the hands. AI can never get the hands right,” some people say. But alas, AI is getting better at re-creating human hands in images. “Zoom in on the faces,” others might say, but again, AI is always improving in its quality.

Images that aren’t “genuine” aren’t new. Designers have been fooling the masses with Photoshop for a long time. Deepfakes are now faster and more believable, which can be worrisome.

For now, the above tricks are true. Textures aren’t quite right, lighting isn’t believable, and minor details are tricky for AI to nail. Often, an AI-generated image appears too smooth, with people seemingly lacking pores in their skin, clothing lacking wrinkles or texture, and much of the environment around the subject exhibiting an unnatural sheen.

Most of all, whether an image is AI or natural is concerning if it was created to cause harm. If political, religious, or otherwise influential figures are put into situations that will cause anger or even retaliation, that’s the kind of danger we care about most.

Some take a strong stance against AI because each image was generated through machine learning from existing images. In general, every photo taken, every painting created, and every other AI-generated image is being consumed as data and used to generate more images. Therefore, people feel that AI is micro-stealing, using tiny elements of millions of existing works of art to develop its own.

We discussed Lunne’s stance on this topic and how to ensure we are using genuinely unique imagery in our first AI Series blog. Take a look! 

With a virus, you can’t stay healthy by simply deciding you won’t get sick. You must learn to wash your hands, watch for symptoms, consider a vaccine, and ultimately, act responsibly to coexist with the illness. The same is true with AI. It’s out of its cage, and knowing when to believe the validity of an image will be vital as we encounter more of them every day.

AI-generated content lacks warmth. 

Some have tried to spot telltale signs of AI-generated content, like excessive use of em dashes. Occasionally, you can notice repetitive phrases or an odd flow to a piece of content. However, some human writers also fall into the same traps. So much like detecting AI-generated images, it’s very difficult to find something unmistakable about a written piece that identifies it as AI.

There are online tools from reputable sources like Grammarly that can help identify AI-generated content. Teachers in many schools are using tools like these to check students’ work, preventing them from taking shortcuts with AI tools. 

In summary, the thing AI can’t re-create is heart.

The source of human-generated creative elements is the human brain, with our emotions, experiences, and knowledge. That combination is what makes each of us our unique selves, and that comes through in our work. As I noted in our second AI Series blog entry, it’s impossible for a machine to truly mimic the warmth of a human. The source of AI-generated creative elements is data. A computer program can analyze and predict, but it can’t feel. And because of that, the content that it generates isn’t as effective at making you feel, which is the point of what we do as marketers–we try to evoke feelings.

All right, time for a few truths, because you might be wondering.

• Was this article written with AI? No. I typed it on my keyboard with Billie Eilish playing in the background and construction outside my office window in Dayton, Ohio. Go ahead and paste it into an AI detector tool to check.
  
• Did AI help in any way with this article? Yes! As I researched ways to detect AI-generated images and content, AI helped consolidate a number of points from various articles around the web. Additionally, I utilized Grammarly, an AI tool, to suggest phrasing changes that would enhance the clarity of this content.

So, where do we go from here?

• Be aware that AI generates the majority of new online content. And with that in mind, before taking action based on that content, do your research.
• Understand that detecting AI-generated content will get more difficult over time and will eventually be virtually impossible. It’s foolish to believe that today’s version of AI tools is as good as it gets.
• As we’ve said before in this series, learn to control and co-exist with the tools. AI may not take your job, but someone who knows how to use AI might.
• And above all, know that your brain, your heart, and your human experience will shine through more than AI can.