Can you spot an AI generated image?


Weekly Newsletter

Practical AI Strategies

This week on the blog... Can You Spot an AI Generated Image?

Plus: Teaching AI Ethics 2026: Human Labour

Hi everyone,

It's the time of the year when Australian schools head back for staff days, and things really start to gear up for Term 1. I've just been up in Brisbane with Grace Lutheran College, and we had a great day across two campuses exploring GenAI and assessment.

I've had conversations with teachers over the past week about the best ways to get GenAI professional learning when it seems no one has time (or energy) to cram yet another thing into the calendar.

One idea floated by a teacher this week was a simple, inexpensive subscription - sort of like a Patreon community. I subscribe to a couple myself (like Not Another D&D Podcast... 🤓) and these communities offer members' only podcast eps, articles, videos and the like. I'm willing to try anything once, so I've put together a short four question survey.

I'd love your thoughts on the idea, whether you love it or hate it:

Can You Spot an AI Generated Image?

In the first post this week I'm throwing down a challenge: Can you spot an AI generated image?

Honestly, I don't think you can.

I've updated my Real or Fake AI image game with 10 pairs of images from the newest AI image generators, and in particular Google's Nano Banana Pro. I think that we've left the uncanny valley and it's all but impossible to reliably spot AI content by eye.

The article also goes into some of the technical, social, legal and political changes in deepfakes and AI images since I first published the game back in November 2024. Check it out on the blog:

This week I also updated my 2023 Teaching AI Ethics post on Human Labour, writing up a new article with fresh case studies and teaching ideas. The updated article explores the famous case of Kenyan data classifiers exposed by Time magazine in 2023, and then reviews what has happened since.

We've now seen multiple cases of AI companies using low paid human labour to classify and moderate AI data, but we've also seen changes in laws, unions forming, and some positive actions.

If you've got a second please fill out the survey at the top - it's really important to me that the PD, videos, and other resources from both the blog and Practical AI Strategies are as useful as possible!

Cheers,

Leon


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The AI Reads page curates fresh, practical articles on AI and education—updated every week, free to browse.
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Leon Furze

I'm a educator, writer, and podcaster who loves to talk about artificial intelligence, education, and writing & storytelling. Subscribe and join over 9,000+ educators every week!

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