How to Fight Back Against AI Generated Misinformation
A quick guide on how to spot AI
AI slop has become a media disinformation tool. Over the weekend when the US committed war crimes; it became hard to tell what was real. Both AI videos and photos were being spread across social media making it hard to gather reliable information on what was going on. This article is going to sound like the plot of a Black Mirrors episode; lock in.
We don’t know how much of an impact AI slop will have on the public as a misinformation tool. However, Facebook and a few bots have caused genocides and swayed elections. So, we should view AI slop misinformation as a threat to the American people regardless of who is spreading the slop.
Believe it or not the best way to stop slop from spreading is with your own eyes. There is currently no reliable AI detection programs. There is a funding problem in the field of AI forensics. With very few regulations the holders of these algorithms do not have much incentive to fund AI detection; it does nothing for the bottom line. The current fascist administration has no desire to regulate AI. Misinformation allows for them to continue causing public confusion and chaos. This is only part of the problem.
Even outside of the US the researchers who are studying the topic are struggling to build a solution. Training an algorithm on data from AI (meaning AI training AI) is not a reliable training method. Leaving these early detectors unable to consistently identify AI generated slop. If you can solve this puzzle you will one day win a noble prize and probably be filthy rich.
For right now our only way to fight misinformation is with our eyes. This next section is going to be dedicated to breaking down “The Human Guide To Detecting AI Imagery” from aiforensics.org. This will be a summary; I will link the full guide here (in case you are done reading this), but it will be posted again at the end too and it is posted in The Wake and Think arena group.
Before the image
Before you even look at an image there are ways to check if it is generated slop. TikTok, Instagram, etc all have an AI slop label. The description on could also have hashtags or flat out say it was AI generated. The biggest issue with this is that it is on the creator/person posting to label the content. Less than half of known AI images are labeled. Some sites such as instagram have made the label less visible on first glance; you will have to check inside the description.
One other place to check before you start to dissect the image. Check the comments on the post. People have probably already started a conversation and listed their reason they believe or don’t believe it is slop. Obviously social media comment sections are full of trolls and shitposters; use your discretion on what you take from them.
Synthetic Artifacts in AI Imagery
Now we are going to look at the image since all else has failed to deliver clarity. Let it be noted that from here on out we cannot always guarantee we will know 100 percent certainty that it is AI slop. Synthetic Artifacts are going to parts of the image or video that are out of place or inconsistent with the image/video. here is a quick list of things:
Impossible physics
The smoke is coming from nowhere Indecipherable inscriptions/words
The top of the Box has gibberish next to buns Inconsistent proportions
Not matching or missing accessories
Implausible symmetry, vanishing points, and shadows
Inconsistent style
Too many/Too few body parts
A stylized smooth glow
Moving Images/clips
Here are a few things to look for in videos that will help you determine if it’s slop.
Disappearing/morphing body parts
Unnatural body language/movements
Unnatural eyes
Unmatching/impossible lips/teeth/hair
Disappearing or appearing objects
Unnatural physics
Digital Provenance
The last step you can use is to verify the origin of the content.
Reverse image search the content
Check multiple credible news sources
Practice will make you better at spotting AI. However, you are only one brain and two eyes; it can be overwhelming. That’s why I started a channel in the collectives discord channel called “is it slop”. We as a community can come together and help fight the AI slop appearing on our feeds. It can be used for practice spotting slop with harmless cat videos or try to root out political propaganda.
There is no one coming to save us. There is no AI detection system coming in the near future, but the threat of AI destabilizing society has already arrived. We can save ourselves by creating communities who identify slop and call it out. If you are Black you are welcome to join the discord (the collective is a closed community). Drop a video/photo into the channel or help investigate something already in the channel. We can collectively fight back against AI slop creating misinformation.
Stay woke,
Loc
Sources:
Moore, Willem. “Venezuela Misinformation Spreads like Wildfire Online.” Canary, 4 Jan. 2026, www.thecanary.co/trending/2026/01/04/venezuela-misinformation/.
Khan, Naseem, et al. “Unmasking Synthetic Realities in Generative AI: A Comprehensive Review of Adversarially Robust Deepfake Detection Systems.” ArXiv.org, 2025, arxiv.org/abs/2507.21157.
“Library: Faculty Guide to Generative AI: Detecting AI.” Pace.edu, 2022, libguides.pace.edu/c.php?g=1292205&p=9488470.
The Human Guide to Detecting AI Imagery | 2.
