TimeBinder

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Free quiz: takes about 2 minutes

Real or AI?Can you spot the AI food ad?

TimeBinder adds a layer of protection against AI and human fraud and disputes. Six side-by-side food photos. One of each pair is AI.

Your score is worked out in your browser. Real photos are public-domain or CC0. The AI images were made for this quiz and show no real person.

Pick the AI photo in each pair

Tap the photo you think is AI-generated. You will see the answer and a tip straight away.

Takes about 2 minutes. Your score is worked out in your browser and is not tied to your name.

Six rounds. Two food photos each. One is AI.

Each round shows two photographs of the same kind of dish, the sort you might see on a menu or in a restaurant ad. One is a real photograph. The other was generated by AI. Pick the one you think is AI, then see what gave it away.

  • Real photos are public-domain or CC0 pictures from Wikimedia Commons.
  • The AI images were made for this quiz. No real person appears in any of them.
  • Sides are shuffled every time you play.

Can you tell AI food ads by looking? The short answer

Often not, and people have been reacting to that for months. On 28 August 2026, Maggie Moda wrote on X that you could “throw a rock in NYC and you’ll hit a mildly off putting AI food advertisement.” When we read the X API on 12 November 2026, that post had 2,736 likes, 2,831,166 impressions, 215 bookmarks, 359 quotes, 150 replies and 86 reposts. Fortune covered the backlash on 6 September 2026. The subject was still circulating in November: an X story on 3 November 2026 summarised AI-generated food ads, and a 7 November post about AI menu photos in a restaurant had 526 likes and 9,355 impressions that day.

Spotting by eye is unreliable. TimeBinder is not a tool for identifying generated media. A TimeBind shows only that an exact file existed no later than a recorded time and that a copy you hold still matches it.

Five clues in food ads, and why none is proof

These are the habits that showed up in the quiz. They are worth knowing, but each one fails often enough that you should never settle an argument about a menu photo on them alone.

  1. Too perfect. Even gloss on every surface, sauce in decorative stripes, a cherry placed just so. Real studio food photography aims for the same polish.
  2. Repetition. Identical truffles, the same crumb on every piece of fried chicken, garnish spaced like a pattern. Look twice at copies with tiny variations.
  3. Compartmented toppings. Ramen or salads where each ingredient sits in its own tidy nest. Home and restaurant photos are usually messier, but menu shoots are often styled.
  4. Left-right symmetry. A platter or pizza that almost mirrors itself. Real plating can be symmetrical too, especially in advertisements.
  5. Missing mess. No irregular char, no torn pastry, no drips that go the wrong way. Generated ads often “clean up” a dish.

All five get weaker once an image is cropped, filtered, compressed and re-shared, which is how most people see ads and menus. If a photograph of a dish matters later, the stronger record is the original file and when it existed, not a guess from the way it looks.

If a food photo matters, keep a record of the original

When a customer, a platform or a competitor questions a menu or advert photo, an argument about how it looks goes nowhere. A better question is whether you can show the exact original and when it existed.

  1. Keep the original file untouched. Do not edit or re-save it. Work on copies. If you also use a generated image, keep the real photograph of the actual dish as well.
  2. Make a TimeBind when you take or finish it. Your browser makes the SHA-256 fingerprint, and the file stays on your device. TimeBinder records the fingerprint with a time on the Bitcoin blockchain.
  3. Keep the file and the Proof of Time Certificate together.
  4. Check later with the file comparison checker. A copy that still matches is the same file. One that does not match is a different file.
Make a TimeBind: first one free →

First Pooled TimeBind free, no card, then from US$5. An ASAP TimeBind is US$15.

What a TimeBind shows, and what it does not. It shows that an exact file existed no later than a recorded time and that a copy shown later still matches its fingerprint. It does not show who made the file, who owns it, that its contents are true, or whether AI was used to make or edit it. This is general information, not legal advice.

Image credits and licences

Every real photo is public domain or CC0, which permits modification and reuse. Each AI image was generated by TimeBinder for this quiz from a text description of the same kind of dish, not as a copy of the real photograph. Photos were cropped to a 4:3 frame. No real person is shown.

The real photographs used in the Real or AI? food ads quiz
SubjectReal photo sourceLicencePhotographer / uploader
A restaurant pizza with arugulaWikimedia CommonsCC0David Nuescheler
A croissant with bakery trufflesWikimedia CommonsCC0Olenka Kotyk
A bowl of miso ramenWikimedia CommonsCC0Douglas Perkins
Pieces of crispy fried chickenWikimedia CommonsCC0Evan-Amos
A sushi platter on slateWikimedia CommonsCC0Mojmir Churavy
An ice cream sundaeWikimedia CommonsPublic domainRenee Comet

If you would rather try home baking and desserts, the free Real cake or AI? quiz is four rounds of cake photographs. It cannot tell you whether a file you hold is AI-made.

Real or AI? food ads quiz: FAQ

How does the Real or AI? food ads quiz work?

You get six rounds. Each shows two photographs of the same kind of dish, such as pizza or ramen, the sort you might see on a menu or in a restaurant ad. One is a real photograph and one was generated by AI. Tap the one you think is AI, see which was which, read what gave it away, and get a score you can share.

Where do the real photos come from?

They are public-domain or CC0 photographs from Wikimedia Commons, listed with the photographer and licence in the image credits table on this page. The AI images were generated by TimeBinder for this quiz from text descriptions of the same kinds of dishes. No real person appears in any image.

Why food ads, and why now?

AI restaurant and menu photographs have been widely discussed. A 28 August 2026 post by Maggie Moda about “mildly off putting” AI food advertisements in New York still had 2,736 likes and 2,831,166 impressions when we checked the X API on 12 November 2026. Fortune covered the backlash on 6 September 2026. The topic was still circulating in November: X had a story on AI-generated food ads dated 3 November 2026, and a 7 November post about AI menu photos had 526 likes and 9,355 impressions that day. Autocomplete still suggested phrases such as “ai food ads” and “ai generated food menu images” on 12 November 2026.

Can people tell AI food photos by looking?

Often not. A glossy, evenly lit plate can be a real studio photograph, and a messy bowl can be generated. Clues such as repeated garnish, too-perfect symmetry or sculpted sauce help on a still image, but they are hints, not proof, and they fade once a photo is cropped, filtered or re-shared.

Does TimeBinder tell me whether a menu photo is AI-made?

No. TimeBinder is not a tool for identifying generated media, and it cannot tell you whether AI made a file. A TimeBind shows that an exact file existed no later than a recorded time and that a copy you hold still matches it. That is useful when you can say “here is this file, recorded by this time,” not when you need to know how the picture was made.

Do you store my score or answers?

Your score is worked out in your browser. This page sends a few anonymous events to our analytics, such as the quiz being finished with a score band, never your name or email.

How can I show a menu or product photo is the file I kept?

Keep the original file unedited, and make a TimeBind of it when you take or finish it. Later, a copy that still matches the fingerprint is the same file, and the record shows it existed no later than the recorded time. It does not show who took the photo or that the dish was cooked as shown. Read how to prove a photo is not AI for the honest limits.

Related guides and tools

Date the original food photo before it gets copied

Add a layer of protection against AI and human fraud and disputes: a dated, checkable record of the exact file you hold.

  1. Open the app and sign in with email or Google.
  2. Add your files. They stay on your computer.
  3. Seal them and download your Proof of Time certificates.
Open TimeBinder →

First Pooled TimeBind free, no card, then from US$5. See pricing.