Follow the image back to its source
A useful investigation leaves a trail another person can follow. Keep the image, the claim made about it, the source links you checked, and the limits of your findings. Some images remain unresolved; an honest record is more useful than an unsupported verdict.
Worked source check · October 24 archive puzzle
What supports the boxing photograph's label?
- Start with the actual candidate. In the October 24 puzzle, the stored real answer is image 4. The visible scene is a boxer in profile, with both gloves raised.
- Follow the credited source. The puzzle links to Metin Ozer's photograph on Unsplash. Compare the pose, framing and glove lettering with the candidate, rather than trusting a filename.
- State what the record establishes. That attribution and the puzzle's published answer key explain why this game labels the image as the photograph.
- State what was not tested. This lesson does not authenticate a camera-original file, verify a Content Credential, or independently establish when the scene was photographed. Those would require additional evidence.
Separate the image from the claim
An authentic photograph can be shared with a false date or location. An edited photograph can contain genuine photographed material. A generated illustration can be clearly labelled and harmless. Write down which question you are trying to answer before choosing a tool.
Reverse image search can help locate other appearances, a photographer's page, or an earlier caption. Record the pages you actually found. The earliest result you find is not necessarily the first publication, and a failed search does not establish that an image was generated.
For an image presented as news, look for reporting or other evidence about the event itself. One available photograph may be insufficient corroboration, but the absence of additional photographs is not proof that an event did not happen.
Check provenance when it is available
Content Credentials
Use a compatible viewer to inspect the recorded origin and edit history. Consider the signer and the record's scope. Valid credentials make provenance information tamper-evident; they do not guarantee that a caption or depicted event is true. Missing credentials do not establish fakery.
Open the Content Authenticity Initiative's viewer ↗SynthID verification
Google documents a verification feature in Gemini that checks for its invisible watermark. Follow the current instructions and preserve the result. A detected mark can support Google AI use; an absent mark does not establish a photograph or rule out other generators.
Read Google's current verification instructions ↗Handle metadata and detector scores carefully
If the original file is available, inspect its metadata and compare it with the source's account. Metadata can be removed or edited, and a screenshot may preserve little of the original record. A camera name alone is not an authenticated chain of custody.
Compression visualizations and frequency plots need specialist interpretation and suitable reference material. A bright region in an error-level analysis image, or a pattern in a frequency plot, is not a universal signature of AI. This guide does not use either to assign a verdict.
If you consult an automated detector, keep its name, result and stated limitations with your notes. Its confidence score is a model output, not a documented history of the file. Compare it with the other evidence instead of treating it as the final answer.
A record someone else can follow
Before you guess, run through these checks:
- 1Record the exact claim about the image, including the asserted date, place and source.
- 2Find a source page and compare its image and caption with the version you received.
- 3Record provenance or watermark results when available, including what each result covers.
- 4Keep missing or conflicting evidence visible rather than turning it into certainty.
- 5Conclude with what is supported, what remains unknown, and what would resolve it.
Glossary entries for this module
Sources and further checks
Our worked examples explain observations in published ImageGuesser puzzles. For provenance tools and their limits, consult the organizations that maintain them:
- Google: verifying AI-generated images in Gemini
- C2PA: what Content Credentials establish and what they do not
- Content Credentials: origin and editing-history tools
Examples and guidance updated . A visual clue is a reason to investigate; it is not a universal authenticity test.