How-to
How to check whether an image has any proof of origin
"Is this AI?" is the wrong question, because nothing answers it reliably. "What can this file prove about itself?" is answerable.
AI-detection tools are guesses dressed as verdicts. They return a confidence score derived from statistical tells, they are wrong in both directions, and they get less reliable every time models improve. People have had work removed on the strength of a detector that was simply mistaken.
So set that question aside. A better one has an actual answer: what verifiable record does this file carry?
Three things a file might carry
1. Content Credentials (C2PA)
An industry standard backed by Adobe and others that embeds signed provenance data in the file. When present it is genuinely informative. The catch is fragility — most platforms strip metadata on upload, and screenshots discard it entirely. Absence tells you nothing.
2. EXIF and embedded metadata
Camera data, software tags, timestamps. Easily edited, easily stripped, and absent from most things you encounter online. Treat as a weak hint, never as proof.
3. A content-addressed registry record
Instead of storing the record inside the file, store it against the file's SHA-256 hash. Strip every byte of metadata and the hash of the image data is unchanged, so the record still resolves. This is what GenieMade's registry does, and it is why it survives being uploaded, downloaded and re-shared.
Checking a file
Drop any image on the verify page. It fingerprints the file and looks the hash up in the public registry. Two possible outcomes:
- A record exists — you see who registered it, when, and a signed certificate you can inspect. The date is the useful part.
- No record — the file has never been registered. This is the normal result for almost everything on the internet today, and it is not an accusation. It only means there is nothing to check against.
How to read the result honestly
A registry record establishes that specific bytes were registered by a specific account on a specific date, and have not changed since. That is a strong, narrow fact. It does not certify artistic authorship, and no absence of a record implies wrongdoing.
Narrow and true is the point. Most disputes are about when and who had it first, and that is exactly what a timestamped record settles.