Think you can easily identify AI-generated faces? A new study suggests you might be overestimating yourself.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the Australian National University (ANU) tested 125 participants on their ability to distinguish real human faces from AI-generated ones. Most volunteers were confident in their judgment, but the results told a different story. Even people with exceptional face recognition skills, referred to as super-recognizers, only scored slightly above average.
The study used AI-generated faces that removed obvious visual errors, making them highly convincing. While early examples often had telltale flaws like distorted teeth or mismatched glasses, modern image generation systems create symmetrical, well-proportioned images that are much harder to detect.
“What we saw was that people with average face-recognition ability performed only slightly better than chance,” Dr James Dunn from UNSW says. “And while super-recognizers 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.”
How overconfidence can put you at risk
This overconfidence has real-world implications, making people and companies more vulnerable to scams, fake social media accounts, and fraudulent profiles if they rely solely on their instincts to judge authenticity. The research highlights that gut feeling is no longer enough to tell real from AI.
The study shows that even those with above-average face recognition skills can struggle to identify AI-generated faces, and there is no clear evidence yet that this ability can be reliably trained or predicted.
If you thought spotting a fake face was easy, this research shows it is now a whole lot trickier than you realize.