Pause before you share. Find who posted it first, search for older copies, and check whether trusted news outlets are reporting the same event. Look for AI and editing signs such as distorted hands and shadows that disagree. If you cannot confirm it yet, hold off, or share it clearly labeled as unconfirmed.
Images built to spread are built to stir strong feelings. A rush of anger, fear or pity is your cue to slow down. The FBI warns that criminals create AI images of natural disasters and global conflicts to draw donations to fake charities (FBI, December 2024).
Run a reverse image search. For a video, pause on a clear frame, take a screenshot and search with that. Older copies often reveal real footage from a different place or year, recycled with a new caption.
Check hands, teeth, eyes, jewelry, shadows and watermarks, the tells the FBI lists for AI-made images and video. Our guides on AI video and edited photos walk through them.
If a post moves you to donate, give through a charity you already know, on its own website, rather than through a link in the post.
All Around REAL is Your AI PI. For newsrooms, creators and organizations deciding whether to publish, send us the best original copy you can get. You get a plain written result with the reasoning, and an honest “unable to evaluate” when a copy has been compressed too far to judge, so you are never handed a guess. Every completed review carries a REAL Check.
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By David Venafro, founder · Updated October 12, 2026