From the sandwich-board ads outside neighborhood bodegas to campaigns by multimillion-dollar companies and midterm political races, AI-generated advertising is becoming part of our everyday scenery. But figuring out which images were photographed, which were prompted, and which fall somewhere in between is getting harder. In a September study of more than 500 consumers, only 17 percent correctly identified the AI-generated ad in a lineup of 10 — even though half initially felt confident they could spot it.

So what gives an AI ad away? Often, it’s something small that doesn’t hold up as well as the overall image. These six signs can offer clues.

1. The product looks plausible until its parts stop making sense

An ad can have a believable setting and a perfectly ordinary model, then fall apart around the product. For example, in June, an REI Instagram ad featured a bicycle with an extra set of handlebars growing out of its saddle.

According to the retailer, Meta's AI personalization tool altered a vendor-provided image, turning a real photograph into slop. REI said it took steps to unenroll from the tool.

"While a two-handled bike might be interesting, it is not something you will find in our assortment," REI told Fast Company.

Other advertisers have encountered similar changes. In July reporting by Business Insider, advertising consultant Jessica Gleim said Meta had suggested an image that turned a client's pajama dress into a shirt and pants. For another client, a women’s networking group in Montana, the tool proposed adding men. As Gleim told BI, "It’s not usable to help my clients grow their business," regarding AI-generation.

2. The same character or object looks different between shots

Sometimes, each shot looks plausible on its own. Put them together, though, and the main character — or main vehicle — doesn’t quite stay the same.

Coca-Cola's 2025 viral AI-generated "Holidays Are Coming" commercial drew criticism for its poor shot consistency, and its harshest critics called it "soulless, bland, and hard to even watch." Viewers and experts documented changing vehicle design across the truck scenes, including mechanically implausible configurations. (Of course, that didn't stop Coca-Cola from airing the commercial all winter long.)

The same sort of inconsistency appeared in Toys "R" Us's 2024 film, made with OpenAI's Sora (RIP). The film depicts the company's founder Charles Lazarus as a boy dreaming about a fantastical toy store. But the child's appearance varied throughout the video.

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Similar inconsistencies can happen within a shot. Last year, UC Berkeley digital forensics expert Hany Farid told Mashable to look for "temporal inconsistencies," such as "the building added a story, or the car changed colors, things that are physically not possible." These changes can occur in the background, away from the main subject, making them easier to miss.

3. Movement doesn’t match the object — or the speech

Back to Coca-Cola. In their 2024 AI holiday advertisement, the trucks were moving along roads without their wheels even rotating. Very sloppy.

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McDonald's Netherlands encountered its own visual problems in an AI-generated Christmas commercial from last year, with distorted faces and bodies, and the company pulled the ad after backlash. The Sweetshop CEO Melanie Bridge allegedly defended the production in a now-deleted statement, saying, "AI didn’t make this film. We did."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

As for synthetic people, look for a

From the sandwich-board ads outside neighborhood bodegas to campaigns by multimillion-dollar companies and midterm political races, AI-generated advertising is becoming part of our everyday scenery. But figuring out which images were photographed, which were prompted, and which fall somewhere in between is getting harder. In a September study of more than 500 consumers, only 17 percent correctly identified the AI-generated ad in a lineup of 10 — even though half initially felt confident they could spot it.

So what gives an AI ad away? Often, it’s something small that doesn’t hold up as well as the overall image. These six signs can offer clues.

1. The product looks plausible until its parts stop making sense

An ad can have a believable setting and a perfectly ordinary model, then fall apart around the product. For example, in June, an REI Instagram ad featured a bicycle with an extra set of handlebars growing out of its saddle.

According to the retailer, Meta's AI personalization tool altered a vendor-provided image, turning a real photograph into slop. REI said it took steps to unenroll from the tool.

"While a two-handled bike might be interesting, it is not something you will find in our assortment," REI told Fast Company.

Other advertisers have encountered similar changes. In July reporting by Business Insider, advertising consultant Jessica Gleim said Meta had suggested an image that turned a client's pajama dress into a shirt and pants. For another client, a women’s networking group in Montana, the tool proposed adding men. As Gleim told BI, "It’s not usable to help my clients grow their business," regarding AI-generation.

2. The same character or object looks different between shots

Sometimes, each shot looks plausible on its own. Put them together, though, and the main character — or main vehicle — doesn’t quite stay the same.

Coca-Cola's 2025 viral AI-generated "Holidays Are Coming" commercial drew criticism for its poor shot consistency, and its harshest critics called it "soulless, bland, and hard to even watch." Viewers and experts documented changing vehicle design across the truck scenes, including mechanically implausible configurations. (Of course, that didn't stop Coca-Cola from airing the commercial all winter long.)

The same sort of inconsistency appeared in Toys "R" Us's 2024 film, made with OpenAI's Sora (RIP). The film depicts the company's founder Charles Lazarus as a boy dreaming about a fantastical toy store. But the child's appearance varied throughout the video.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Similar inconsistencies can happen within a shot. Last year, UC Berkeley digital forensics expert Hany Farid told Mashable to look for "temporal inconsistencies," such as "the building added a story, or the car changed colors, things that are physically not possible." These changes can occur in the background, away from the main subject, making them easier to miss.

3. Movement doesn’t match the object — or the speech

Back to Coca-Cola. In their 2024 AI holiday advertisement, the trucks were moving along roads without their wheels even rotating. Very sloppy.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

McDonald's Netherlands encountered its own visual problems in an AI-generated Christmas commercial from last year, with distorted faces and bodies, and the company pulled the ad after backlash. The Sweetshop CEO Melanie Bridge allegedly defended the production in a now-deleted statement, saying, "AI didn’t make this film. We did."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

As for synthetic people, look for a