At the start of 2025, a series of photos has invaded social networks, leaving even the most informed people perplexed. These photos, supposedly taken “on the fly” with an iPhone, pose a troubling question: would we now be unable to differentiate an AI-generated image from an authentic photo?
Disconcertingly realistic photos
What is striking is the apparent banality of these images: natural poses, familiar settings, a photographic quality close to what everyone captures on a daily basis. The author of this experience, a forum user Reddit nicknamed dal_macknew how to exploit a clever approach: simulate harmless photostaken by a consumer smartphone, without trying to make them into works of art.
This strategy is based on a key element: our eye is accustomed to photos taken by an iPhone. We know the textures, contrasts, imperfections. Light blur, slightly skewed white balance, or subtle overexposure give these images a misleading authenticity.
A perfect illusion, but not entirely artificial
If these photos are disturbing, it’s because they are not entirely generated by AI. In reality, the young woman in the photos does exist. It is not a creation resulting from a simple prompt Midjourney ou ChatGPTbut an experiment carried out with Fluxa toolGenerative AI advanced running locally.
The author explains having used a hybrid approach: it resulted in a submodel on about twenty real photos of this woman, thus making it possible to generate a coherent series where the same face returns from image to image. Then, by combining this specific model with another, reproducing the photographic style of an iPhonehe obtained even more realistic results.
Decryption in a television experience
This phenomenon was also tested in the show Unlockproduced by Frandroid and Numerama. During an interactive challenge, participants, including the public, had to distinguish between real photos of those AI-generated. The result? Even the most skeptical trapped ! Some images were variations of originals modified between 40 et 60 % by an AI, exactly like in the case of this series that went viral.
-This experience demonstrates one thing: as the technology evolvesit becomes more and more difficult to detect what is authentic and what is not. A social question which deserves to be explored further, in particular to avoid potential abuses linked to deepfakes and to the disinformation.
So the next time you see a photo scrolling across your screen, ask yourself: is it as real as it looks?
