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Can you detect an AI generated face? Most people get around 11 out of 20
Most people get around 11 out of 20. “In a research paper published in the British Journal of Psychology, researchers from UNSW and the ANU recruited 125 participants – including 36 people with exceptional face-recognition ability, known as super recognisers, and 89 control participants – to complete an online test in which they were shown a series of faces and asked to judge whether each image was real or AI-generated.
Obvious visual flaws were screened out beforehand. “What we saw was that people with average face-recognition ability performed only slightly better than chance,” Dr Dunn says.
“And while super-recognisers performed better than other participants, it was only by a slim margin. What was consistent was people’s confidence in their ability to spot an AI-generated face – even when that confidence wasn’t matched by their actual performance.”
Why this matters? AI-generated faces are becoming increasingly realistic and widely accessible. These synthetic images are now used in social media profiles, marketing materials, political messaging, and even fraudulent schemes. While some uses are harmless, others can contribute to identity deception, misinformation, financial scams, and the manipulation of public opinion.
As the technology improves, it becomes harder to distinguish real faces from artificial ones. We created this test to show how hard this task has become. The average person does no better than guessing when distinguish real from AI, but some people are super-AI-detectors.
By studying individual differences in detecting AI-generated faces, we hope to understand who is most vulnerable to deception and how to design tools and educational strategies that strengthen digital resilience. Take the Demo & Learn More
