Your Students Will See AI Images Every Day. Will They Know They're Fake?

Aug 2

By Claire L. Brady, EdD

One of the most important digital literacy skills of the next decade may not be learning how to use AI.

It may be learning when not to trust it.

A recent article from Snopes, “How to Spot AI Images: A Fact-Checker's Guide”, offers a fascinating look at how professional fact-checkers identify AI-generated images. The article walks readers through everything from inconsistent shadows and distorted hands to garbled text, unrealistic perspectives, and missing metadata. It is a practical reminder that while AI-generated media continues to improve, it still leaves clues—and so does misinformation.

But as I read the article, I kept thinking about a bigger question.

What does this mean for higher education?

The answer isn't that we need every faculty member, staff member, or student to become an expert in forensic image analysis.

The answer is that we need to cultivate habits of critical thinking that transfer across every new technology we encounter.

For decades, higher education has taught students how to evaluate sources, distinguish evidence from opinion, and construct thoughtful arguments. Those skills haven't become less important because of AI. They've become more important.

The challenge is that AI-generated images, videos, and audio are becoming increasingly convincing. They are designed to evoke emotion, spread quickly, and often reinforce what people already want to believe. As the Snopes article notes, no single indicator proves an image is fake. Instead, fact-checkers use a combination of observation, verification, and healthy skepticism before reaching a conclusion.

That mindset is exactly what higher education should be developing.

Rather than teaching students simply to consume information, we should be teaching them to interrogate it. Rather than asking, "Is this image real?" we should encourage them to ask, "How do I know?"

Those are very different questions.

For institutional leaders, this moment also presents an opportunity. Digital literacy can no longer be confined to a single library workshop or first-year seminar. It needs to become part of the culture of our institutions.

What can Higher Ed do?

Here are five places I believe higher education leaders should begin:

1. Make AI media literacy everyone's responsibility

For years, we've often treated digital literacy as a one-time workshop or a first-year seminar. That approach is no longer sufficient. Every discipline—from nursing to journalism, engineering to business—should help students evaluate evidence, question sources, and recognize how AI-generated media can influence decision-making within their profession.

2. Shift from teaching answers to teaching verification.

The goal isn't for students to memorize the latest AI detection tricks. Those will change as quickly as the technology does. Instead, teach a repeatable verification process: slow down, consider the source, corroborate information, perform reverse image searches when appropriate, and ask whether independent evidence supports the claim. Those habits will outlast any AI model.

3. Prepare faculty and staff—not just students.

Faculty are increasingly encountering AI-generated images in assignments, manipulated videos on social media, and fabricated evidence online. Student affairs professionals, enrollment teams, communications staff, and campus leaders face these challenges as well. AI media literacy should become part of professional development across the institution, not just student instruction.

4. Update crisis communication and risk planning.

Every institution should assume that at some point it will face manipulated media—a fake campus emergency alert, fabricated images of a protest, altered screenshots, or a deepfake of an institutional leader. Preparing communication protocols now is far easier than responding during a crisis when misinformation is spreading rapidly.

5. Model transparency in your own use of AI.

Institutions have an opportunity to build trust by being thoughtful about when and how they use AI-generated images, video, and other content. Clear internal guidance and appropriate disclosure won't eliminate skepticism—but they demonstrate integrity and reinforce the values we hope students will adopt themselves.

6. Teach judgment—not just technology.

Ultimately, this isn't a technology challenge; it's a human one. The students who will thrive won't simply be the ones who know how to generate an image or write a prompt. They'll be the ones who pause before sharing, ask better questions, recognize when something doesn't add up, and understand that critical thinking is still their greatest competitive advantage.

Closing Thoughts

Technology will continue to improve. Soon, many of today's visual clues may disappear. Even the experts acknowledge that identifying AI-generated content is becoming more difficult every year. That is precisely why our focus shouldn't be on memorizing a checklist. It should be on developing curious, thoughtful, discerning people.

Because in an age when almost anything can be generated, manipulated, or fabricated, the competitive advantage isn't simply knowing how to use AI. It's knowing when to pause, ask better questions, and think before believing what you see.

Read the full Snopes article here: https://www.snopes.com/articles/471427/spot-ai-images-guide/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic/culture