Reverse image search + AI check

The two questions that verify almost any image are "where did this come from?" and "how was it made?". Reverse image search answers the first, an AI detector answers the second, and together they're far stronger than either alone.

Step 1: find the origin

Run the image through Google Lens (lens.google.com), TinEye (tineye.com), or Bing Visual Search, uploading the file directly works better than pasting a link. You're looking for the earliest and most authoritative appearance: a news agency, an original social post, a stock photo listing. Sort by date where the tool allows it.

What the origin tells you

An old photo attached to a new event is the most common form of image misinformation, no AI required. If the "breaking news" picture first appeared in 2019, the case is closed. If the image appears nowhere at all despite looking like a professional photo, that absence is itself suspicious: real photos of real events leave trails.

Step 2: check how it was made

When search finds nothing conclusive, run the image through the AI detector. Use the crop tool to focus on the region that matters, a face, a hand, the detail being claimed as evidence, since a focused crop gives a cleaner score than a full screenshot with borders and interface around it.

Reading the two results together

No trail plus a high AI score: almost certainly generated. A clear 2019 origin plus a low AI score: real photo, recycled dishonestly. A real origin but a high score on one cropped region can indicate a genuine photo that's been AI-edited. And when both checks come back ambiguous, that's a result too, treat the image as unverified and don't share it as fact.