As AI image generators become more advanced, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell AI from real images. So, it’s no wonder that yet another AI creation has been fooling people over the past few days. The image is downright bizarre, showing a half-naked man kicking an alligator in the face. It spread like wildfire, with some folks turning it into a meme and some wondering – is this thing real?
I saw the image on Instagram a day or two ago. A friend of mine shared it in a Story and joked that this is what his dreams have looked like lately. As Know Your Meme explains, this is an AI-generated image. It shows a “large, shirtless Black man kicking an alligator in the face in a swamp at night.”
According to the same source, it was first seen on the Facebook account Uncle Mike’s Photography. If you pay attention to the page’s username (in the URL), it’s www.facebook.com/ExtremeAiArt. Si the telltale sign whether this is real or not is already there. Not to mention the rest of the creations which are all surreal, and often hilarious or disturbing. Or both.
However, as it usually happens, someone took the image, shared it, and it started living a life of its own. According to Know Your Meme, it went viral on X / Twitter, shared both as a “story” of several images, and as a single image of the man kicking the alligator.
The problem is, if you see the kicking image out of context and out of Uncle Mike’s Photography’s page – it can be pretty hard to tell whether this is AI or not. At least if you disregard the pretty bizarre situation it depicts. People on Reddit have even wondered if the whole series of images was real.
“Is this AI or not?” one Redditor asked. “This is the first thing I’ve ever seen where I can’t tell if it’s AI or not and it’s really bugging me, help!”
One user pointed out to several telltale signs that reveal the truth about the images:
“The belly size seems inconsistent across the 3, the nipples and belly button don’t match across 2 and 3, there are no stretch marks in 3 like there are in 2, and the text on the side of the box is an indecipherable mess, in the first two the camo shorts has dark brown which is not in the 3rd picture, the beard is inconsistent as well if you look at the section right by the ear, no ripples at all near the guy when he is kicking and no water trailing off of his foot either
Where is the rest of the face of the croc to the left of the one being kicked? I initially thought it was just in shadow but that doesn’t line up with the lighting of everything else that seems strongly lit directly from the camera
I would say AI”
Another user added that the pizza box wasn’t soaking up water as you would expect. “And it has no lid,” added another.
Recognizing AI images
In this case, I simply used “AI or not” and it gave me the answer.
It’s all fun and games if we’re just making and exchanging memes. However, some AI images have confused people globally, and even caused serious problems. This is why it’s essential to think critically and double-check. When you see an image that causes a reaction and leaves a strong impression, take a moment. Don’t react or share it immediately. Take a second look instead, and if your guts tell you something’s not right, it probably isn’t, so go ahead and do your check!
[via PetaPixel]
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