A clip of a public figure
A clip appears of somebody well known saying something outrageous. It is spreading fast and it looks convincing.
What do you do?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
Somebody you know
An image is circulating of someone at your school. It looks real. Somebody says it was generated.
What do you do?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
Advice about counting fingers and watching for odd blinking dates fast. Anything you learn to spot this year is fixed next year.
Ask where it came from
Who published it first? Do they have a reputation to lose? Is anybody with something at stake vouching for it? That question does not go out of date.
What else would exist
If something happened in public, there are other angles, other witnesses, other recordings. A dramatic event with exactly one video is worth doubting.
The other half of the problem
Once everybody knows video can be faked, anybody caught on a real one can call it a fake. Manufactured evidence and denied evidence are the same problem.
Step 3: Try It
These ones do have right answers.
Which Checks Last?
Sort by whether the check will still work in three years.
Which of these are durable ways to assess a video?
Tap something to move it.
- Empty
- Empty
Step 4: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 2
A dramatic public event has exactly one video and no other coverage. What does that suggest?
Question 2 of 2
Somebody caught on genuine video says it is AI-generated. What is that called?
Step 5: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
Two provenance questions
- Take one striking thing you see this week.
- Ask: who published it first, and what would they lose if it were false?
- Ask: what else would exist if this were true?
Why: These two questions keep working however good the fakes get.
Step 6: What You Learned
- Detection tricks based on how it looks go out of date fast.
- Ask where it came from and who is vouching for it.
- Fakes existing also lets people deny real things.
For the grown-up
The provenance approach is what professional verification actually uses, and unlike artefact-spotting it does not degrade as the technology improves.
The liar’s dividend is the half that gets least attention and may matter more. It changes what can be established at all, in courts, politics and personal disputes.
Non-consensual synthetic images of real people, including classmates, are a live problem in schools. Worth naming plainly: making or sharing them is abuse and in many places a criminal offense.