This semester, I’ll be focusing on a different topic than I did last semester. At the time, I wasn’t completely sure where my research interests would lead me, so we were given the opportunity to adjust our topics later on if needed. Over the past few months, however, I found myself becoming increasingly interested in the way we perceive images and why we trust them. That curiosity eventually led me to change my focus and explore this topic in more depth.
Every day, we are surrounded by images. Whether we are scrolling through social media, reading the news, or simply browsing the internet, images are everywhere. Most of the time, we accept them without giving them much thought. We rarely stop to ask whether an image actually shows what it claims to show.
At the same time, the tools used to create images are becoming more powerful. The rapid development of artificial intelligence has made it possible to generate images that look surprisingly realistic. In many cases, it has become difficult to tell whether an image is a real photograph or something that was created entirely by AI.
Over the past few months, I have come across more and more examples of AI-generated images appearing outside of technology-related discussions. They show up on social media, in advertisements, and sometimes even alongside news stories. Seeing this made me wonder how much we can really trust what we see online.
For a long time, photographs were seen as evidence. Even though image manipulation has existed for decades, photographs still carried a certain sense of authenticity. A photo was often considered proof that something had actually happened. Today, that assumption feels less certain. With only a few prompts, AI can create convincing images of people, places, and events that never existed.
What I find particularly interesting is that many people believe they can easily spot AI-generated images. Common signs that are often mentioned include strange-looking hands, unusual facial features, or unrealistic lighting. However, image generation tools are improving at a remarkable pace, and many of these obvious clues are becoming less common.
During my initial research, I found several examples where people confidently identified AI-generated images as real photographs. At the same time, genuine photographs were sometimes accused of being fake. This suggests that distinguishing between real and artificial images may be much more difficult than we think.
What fascinates me most is not only whether people can correctly identify an image, but also why they trust it. Does the context matter more than the image itself? Are we influenced by familiar faces, personal experiences, or our own expectations? And what actually makes an image feel believable?
To explore these questions further, I plan to conduct a small experiment in one of my upcoming blog posts. I want to find out whether people are really as good at recognizing AI-generated images as they often claim to be. Before that, however, the next post will focus on explaining the methodology behind the experiment and how it will be carried out.
