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AI video or real? How to tell, and how to make videos people trust

You saw a clip of a storm, a famous face or a product that looks too good, and you want to know whether it really happened. This guide gives you a routine for checking a video: what to look at when you pause it, which labels to look for and how to trace where it came from. Then it turns to businesses that want viewers to believe what they post, and to which parts of a Procedural Videos video are AI. No single check proves a clip real or fake.

Updated October 6, 202610 min read

Viewers, businesses and creators
Illustration

Can you tell from the picture alone whether a video is real?

Sometimes, but less often than most people expect. A generated clip can hold up for a few seconds, and a short loop on a phone hides many flaws, while genuine footage can look odd after compression, filters or low light. So ask three questions: what on screen couldn't happen, what the platform and the file say about how it was made, and who posted it first.

Which details give generated footage away when you pause it?

Pause, step through a few frames and look at these places. The last rows are about change over time, which only a video can show.

Two or three of these signs together are a reason to check the label and the source next.
Where to lookWhat to watch forWhy it isn't proof by itself
Hands and bodiesExtra, missing or merged fingers and unlikely proportions, anatomical clues in a Northwestern guide to spotting AI images.The guide says these flaws don't always appear, and an odd hand alone proves nothing.
FacesSkin too smooth for the hair and eyes, too little or too much blinking, a mouth that moves unnaturally: cues from the MIT Media Lab's Detect Fakes project.Filters and video calls smooth skin in genuine clips too.
Signs and screensLetters that spell nothing, misspellings, text that melts as the camera moves (Kamali and colleagues).Motion blur can make a real sign unreadable for a frame.
Light and shadowShadows falling the wrong way, or glare on glasses that stays put when the head turns (MIT Media Lab).Mixed indoor lighting casts odd shadows in real rooms.
Objects over timeA cup that changes colour, a sign that rearranges its letters, a person who vanishes behind a passing bus.Jump cuts can also make things disappear.
Movement and soundFeet sliding on the ground, cloth passing through an arm, a voice that never breathes or a mouth out of step with the words.Slow motion, dubbing and added music change real clips too.

How do you check a clip before you share it?

  1. Freeze two or three clear frames

    Screenshot moments with a face, a sign or a landmark; an edit can join footage from different places.

  2. Search with each frame

    Search with the image on Google: Lens can list websites with the same or a similar image. An older post with another caption, date or place tells you a lot.

  3. Look for a label

    Check the player, the caption and the expanded description. The table below shows where each platform puts it.

  4. Read the Content Credentials, if any

    These signed records describe how a file was made and edited, but the C2PA FAQ notes they can be separated from the file, so their absence proves nothing.

  5. Find the first poster, then decide

    Look for the original account and whether a news outlet or the person shown confirmed it. Still unsure? Share it as “unverified”, or wait.

Where does an AI label show up on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook?

Labels depend on creators disclosing and on platforms reading signals in the file. These rules change, so check the linked page.

A label tells you how a video was made, not whether what it says is true.
PlatformWhat a viewer may seeWhat adds it
YouTubeA label in the expanded description; for lifelike AI content, a label can also appear on the player itself (YouTube Help).The creator's “AI use” setting at upload, C2PA metadata in the file, YouTube's own AI tools or its internal detection.
TikTok“Creator labeled as AI-generated”, or an automatic “AI-generated” label (TikTok Help Center).The creator's setting, TikTok's AI effects, or Content Credentials attached to the upload.
Facebook, Instagram and ThreadsAn “AI content” label when Meta's systems detect signals that AI created the post (Meta Help Center).Industry-standard signals in the file, Meta's own AI tools, or the creator's disclosure, which Meta may require for lifelike video and realistic-sounding audio.

If a video carries no label, does that make it genuine?

No. YouTube asks creators to disclose AI content that seems realistic, and its help page says non-realistic or minor edits don't need it. Meta draws a similar line: a cartoon-style landscape video needs no label, while a reel narrated by a lifelike AI voiceover does. Automatic labels lean on metadata, and that metadata can be separated from the file.

So an unlabelled clip is simply unknown. Weigh the picture, its history and who vouches for it, and take most care with clips that make you angry or afraid.

Why should a business care whether viewers believe its videos?

Because a buyer reads your video as a statement about your business. A warped product or a storefront that doesn't exist casts doubt on your prices and your offer. The guide to AI video and customer trust covers the research on AI labels in ads and a review to run before you post.

The rules are firming up too. In the EU, Article 50 of the AI Act requires anyone using AI to make a deep fake (content resembling real people, places or events that would falsely appear authentic) to disclose it, with a lighter duty for clearly artistic or fictional work; it has applied since 2 August 2026. Check the current rules where you sell; this is not legal advice.

In a Procedural Videos video, which parts are AI and which aren't?

With Procedural Videos, you describe the video in a text brief, AI plans it and writes it as code, and the engine draws every frame: motion graphics, with no AI-generated footage. Here is what you can tell viewers.

Part of the videoHow it's madeWhat to tell viewers
The plan and the scriptAn AI model plans the scenes from your brief and writes the on-screen words and any narration script. Each generation differs.Read every claim in the script before posting: the AI drafts it, you approve it.
Pictures and motionDrawn by code: shapes, type and animated diagrams, computed frame by frame, so motion is continuous and stable, with no morphing or flicker.Nothing on screen is AI-generated footage. Don't present a drawn product as a photo of the real one.
Words on screenExact and legible, in your brand colours from the hex values in the brief.Check prices, dates and terms against your own records.
Narration (optional)An AI voice reading the script word for word, in English or Spanish, with captions as an SRT file in the same language.Follow each platform's rules on labelling AI content; Meta's examples include a reel narrated by a lifelike AI voice.
PhotosA brief is text only, so your own photos and logo can't go in. Some example films on this site add a stock photo behind the words, and say so.Say it's a stock photo: it isn't your product or your premises.

What would a phone repair shop put in a brief to earn a viewer's trust?

Northgate Phone Repair is an invented shop. The brief uses the Service offer template (Checklist version), an example of a brief and storyboard, not a product feature. The idea: plain terms a customer can hold the shop to.

The briefInvented businessService offer · Checklist type

Make a 15 s, 9:16 vertical video for Northgate Phone Repair, a neighbourhood repair counter. Sell cracked-screen repair. Show three checklist lines: “Free written quote”, “You approve the price before we start” and “90-day warranty on the new screen”. Use #0b3b5c, #f59e0b and #f8fafc. Calm English narration: “Cracked screen? Here's how it works at Northgate.” Close with “Northgate Phone Repair — Ask for a quote at the counter.”

The storyboard

WhenOn screenWhy
0–3 s“Cracked screen?” in large type, over a drawn phone outline with a crack line across it.Names the viewer's problem with a shape, not a picture of someone's real phone.
3–7 sThe first checklist line ticks in: “Free written quote”.Leads with the promise the shop can show on paper.
7–11 sLines two and three tick in.Concrete terms a customer can check, instead of a vague “best service in town”.
11–15 s“Northgate Phone Repair — Ask for a quote at the counter.”The shop's own close.
OutroThe ProcVideos outro closes the video.

The narration is an AI voice, so use the platform's AI disclosure where its rules call for one, and match the warranty wording to the shop's written terms. At about 1 credit per second, a 15 s video costs about 15 credits (pricing); Videos Creator is coming soon to Attain OS. More in how to write a video brief.

Try a brief like this one

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Videos Creator is coming to Attain OS. You can create your Attain OS account today.

Which habits make your own videos easier to believe?

Do

  • Show real terms: prices, dates and conditions that match your website and receipts.
  • Label anything illustrated as an illustration while it is on screen.
  • Keep the brief and the final file, so you can show how a video was made.
  • Answer “is this AI?” comments plainly.

Don't

  • Post a generated clip of your shop, staff or product as if it had been filmed.
  • Switch off a platform's AI setting to avoid a label its rules require.
  • Use an AI voice that passes itself off as a real customer or a named person.
  • Delete doubtful comments instead of explaining.

Questions people ask

Is it against the rules to post AI video without saying so?

It depends on the platform and the content. [YouTube](source:4) and [TikTok](source:5) require disclosure when AI content looks realistic and can penalise or remove posts that skip it, and in the EU, [Article 50 of the AI Act](source:10) adds a disclosure duty for deep fakes. Check the current rules where you post and sell; this is not legal advice.

Can I ask an AI assistant whether a video is real?

You can ask, but read the answer narrowly. [Gemini's checker](source:8) looks for Google's SynthID watermark and for Content Credentials: it can confirm that Google's AI was involved, but a clean result doesn't show that no AI was used.

Can Procedural Videos make a fake video of a real person?

No. It doesn't generate footage: the engine draws shapes, type and diagrams from a text brief, and a brief can't carry anyone's photo or footage. Narration, when you choose it, is an AI voice in English or Spanish, so label it where a platform's rules ask.

What should I do if a fake video about my business is going around?

Report it on the platform, post a short correction on your own channels saying what is true, and keep copies and links with dates. If it uses your name to sell something, tell customers where your real offers are published.

Example templates

An example template is a sample brief and storyboard for one kind of video, in one style, format and length.

Sources

Rules and platform features change. Check the source before you rely on it.

  1. How to Distinguish AI-Generated Images from Authentic Photographs, Kamali, Nakamura, Chatzimparmpas, Hullman and Groh (Northwestern University), arXiv:2406.08651, 2024 (checked October 6, 2026)
  2. Detect DeepFakes: How to counteract misinformation created by AI, MIT Media Lab (checked October 6, 2026)
  3. Deepfake-Eval-2024: A Multi-Modal In-the-Wild Benchmark of Deepfakes Circulated in 2024, Chandra et al., arXiv:2503.02857, 2025 (revised 2026-05-27) (checked October 6, 2026)
  4. Disclosing use of GenAI content, YouTube Help (checked October 6, 2026)
  5. About AI-generated content, TikTok Help Center (checked October 6, 2026)
  6. How to identify AI content on Meta products, Meta Help Center (checked October 6, 2026)
  7. C2PA FAQ, Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) (checked October 6, 2026)
  8. Verify AI-generated images, videos and audio, Gemini Apps Help (Google) (checked October 6, 2026)
  9. Search with an image on Google, Google Search Help (checked October 6, 2026)
  10. Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act), Article 50 and Article 113, Official Journal of the European Union (EUR-Lex) (checked October 7, 2026)

All guides

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