AI hands
In plain wordsThe tendency of early AI image generators to draw hands badly — extra or missing fingers, twisted joints — which became a running joke and a quick way to spot fake images.
Malformed hands in images from text-to-image modelstext-to-image model, n.: An AI system that creates a picture from a written description, such as 'a fox reading a newspaper, in watercolor', usually within seconds. — extra, missing or fused fingers, impossible joints, hands melting into objects — and the shorthand use of such defects to identify AI-generated images. Hands are hard for generative models because they are highly articulated, often partly hidden, shown in an enormous variety of poses in training images and small in the frame, while the model has no explicit representation of anatomy or of how many fingers a hand has; similar problems affected teeth, lettering and symmetrical objects. Larger models, better data and training — the March 2023 version 5 of MidjourneyMidjourney, prop. n.: A popular paid AI image generator, first used by typing prompts into the chat app Discord, known for its polished, painterly look; it can also animate images into short videos. was widely noted — fixed most typical cases, and 'check the hands' gave way to subtler forensic cues and to watermarkingAI watermarking, n.: Hiding an invisible signal in AI-generated text, images, audio or video so that software can later tell the content was made by AI — like a banknote's watermark, but undetectable to the eye. and provenance schemes.
Count the fingers — the hands still give away half the AI images on this feed.
Origin
Noticed as soon as diffusion-based image generators reached the public in 2022, the problem became a widely shared joke and a talking point in debates over AI artAI art, n.: Images, music or other artworks made with the help of AI — from early computer drawing programs to today's prompt-based image generators — and the debate over whether and how such work counts as art.: artists cited it as evidence that the systems lacked understanding, and its disappearance through 2023–2024 served as an informal measure of progress.
Usage note
Relying on hands or other visual artifacts to detect generated images is now unreliable; see deepfake detectiondeepfake detection, n.: Using software, often itself AI, to tell whether a video, photo or voice recording has been faked or generated by AI rather than captured from reality..
Related
- text-to-image modeltext-to-image model, n.: An AI system that creates a picture from a written description, such as 'a fox reading a newspaper, in watercolor', usually within seconds.
- diffusion modeldiffusion model, n.: An AI that learns to create images, sound or video by practicing noise removal: shown pictures buried under static, it learns to clean them up, then builds new ones starting from pure static.
- Will Smith eating spaghettiWill Smith eating spaghetti, n.: A grotesque 2023 AI-generated video of actor Will Smith eating spaghetti that became a meme and an informal yardstick: each new video model is judged by how well it redoes the scene.
- deepfake detectiondeepfake detection, n.: Using software, often itself AI, to tell whether a video, photo or voice recording has been faked or generated by AI rather than captured from reality.
- AI watermarkingAI watermarking, n.: Hiding an invisible signal in AI-generated text, images, audio or video so that software can later tell the content was made by AI — like a banknote's watermark, but undetectable to the eye.
- uncanny valleyuncanny valley, n.: The eerie feeling people get from robots, dolls or computer-made faces that look almost, but not quite, human: liking grows with human likeness, then suddenly plunges.
- MidjourneyMidjourney, prop. n.: A popular paid AI image generator, first used by typing prompts into the chat app Discord, known for its polished, painterly look; it can also animate images into short videos.
Mentioned in
Balenciaga PopeBalenciaga Pope, prop. n.: A 2023 AI-generated photo of Pope Francis in a stylish white puffer coat that fooled many viewers, becoming a landmark example of how convincing fake images had become., Will Smith eating spaghettiWill Smith eating spaghetti, n.: A grotesque 2023 AI-generated video of actor Will Smith eating spaghetti that became a meme and an informal yardstick: each new video model is judged by how well it redoes the scene.