AI-generated faces look just like real ones – but evidence shows your brain can tell the difference

Can you tell which faces are real and which are synthetic? Answers are at the bottom of the article. Robin Kramer, Author provided

For a while, limitations in technology meant that animators and researchers were only capable of creating human-like faces which seemed a little “off”.

Films like 2004’s The Polar Express made some viewers uneasy because the characters’ faces looked almost human but not quite, and so they fell into what we call the “uncanny valley”. This is when artificial faces (or robots more generally) look increasingly human and get very close to resembling us while still showing signs of being artificial, they elicit discomfort or even revulsion.