Real or Rendered?

A photo of a disaster that never happened. A clip of a politician saying words they never said. A frantic call in a grandchild’s voice, while they’re safe at home. AI makes all of these quick and cheap to produce, and the old advice to look for extra fingers and warped text gets less reliable with every new model.

Real or Rendered? is a 31-page guide that gives you a calm, repeatable way to check what you see and hear before you believe it or pass it on. It turns the lateral reading habit that professional fact-checkers use into a 60-second routine, then walks you through the free tools: reverse image search with Google Lens, Bing and TinEye, Google’s “About this image,” Content Credentials and the CR pin, Gemini’s SynthID check, platform AI labels, and the keyframe method for video.

What makes it different: it’s honest about limits. No tool can prove a picture is real or fake, so the guide teaches you to weigh signals, sort posts into confirmed, false or “not confirmed yet,” and share only what you can stand behind. Every tool, label and safety step was checked against official sources, including the FBI, FTC, NSA, CISA, C2PA, Google, Meta, YouTube and TikTok, in October 2026.

Who it’s for

US adults who see AI-made images, cloned voices and fake videos in their feeds and want a reliable way to check them, plus parents, grandparents and teachers helping kids and teens do the same.

What’s inside

• The 60-Second Check: pause, then the Four W’s (who posted it, where it came from, who else confirms it, when and where), with a worked example and a signal scale.
• Image and video tools: step-by-step reverse image search on computer and phone, Content Credentials, AI labels and their limits, and the keyframe method for video.
• The voice-clone call: hang up and call back, a family code word set up the right way, red flags, and where to report.
• Teach it at home: three questions for any age, activities for ages 8 to 17, free lessons, and what to do if fake explicit images are used against your child.
• 5 printable worksheets and a Quick-Reference Card: 60-Second Check Cards, Source-Check Log, Family Verification Plan, Should I Share It? decision tree and a Practice Set.

Good to know

• Format: 31-page PDF, US Letter, US edition.
• Delivery: digital download after purchase. Nothing is shipped.
• Printing: print the worksheets as often as your own household needs.
• General information only. Not legal advice. No method can guarantee detection of AI-made content, and app features change. Not affiliated with Google, Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, Adobe or TinEye.