TimeBinder

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Volcanoes and lava: real or AI?Can you spot the AI eruption?

TimeBinder adds a layer of protection against AI and human fraud and disputes. Six side-by-side pictures of lava fountains, lava flows and eruptions. In each pair, one is a real photograph and one is AI.

Your score is worked out in your browser. Real photos are CC0 or public-domain photographs. 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 lava pictures each. One is AI.

Each round shows two pictures of an eruption, a lava fountain or a lava flow. One is a real photograph. The other was generated by AI. Pick the one you think is AI, then see what gave it away. Most of the real photos were taken by scientists from the US Geological Survey at Kilauea in Hawaii.

  • The real photos are public-domain or CC0 photographs from Wikimedia Commons, most of them by the US Geological Survey and the US National Park Service, listed with photographer and licence at the bottom of this page. No real people are shown, and no logos or brands are used.
  • The AI images were made for this quiz from text descriptions, not as copies of the real photographs. Both sides were cropped to the same shape. Sides are shuffled every time you play.

Can you tell AI volcano photos from real ones by looking? The short answer

Often not. Eruptions at Kilauea in Hawaii and elsewhere draw huge audiences online, and fake eruption clips with made-up captions get shared and fact-checked. This quiz shows landscapes and lava only, with no people, no damaged homes and no news footage. This quiz uses no news photo, no real person and no named brand. It is a practice test only.

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. This quiz cannot check a photo you found online or a file you hold.

Five clues in volcano and lava pictures, 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 a “is this photo real?” question on them alone.

  1. One tidy stream or fountain, perfectly centred. A single neat feature in the middle of the frame. Real photographers frame shots carefully too.
  2. Repeated shapes and even spacing. Fountains that all look like the same candle flame. Real fissures can erupt in a neat line.
  3. Bright lava under a starry sky. Hard to expose both in one shot, but long night exposures of real eruptions can show stars.
  4. Folds and cracks that frame the lava. Ropy crust curling neatly around a glowing hole, or a perfect ring of cracks. Real lava makes striking patterns too.
  5. Sharp detail out to the horizon. Every rock in focus across a whole valley. Drone photos of real eruptions can be just as crisp.

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

If a photo matters, keep a record of the original

When a photo is questioned, an argument about how it looks goes nowhere. A better question is whether you can show the exact original file and when it existed.

  1. Keep the original file untouched. Do not edit or re-save it. Work on copies.
  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

Each AI image was generated by TimeBinder for this quiz from a text description of an invented scene, not as a copy of the real photograph. No people, brands or logos are shown. Real photos are CC0 dedications or public-domain works, listed with their licence in the table below, and both permit reuse and modification. Real photos were cropped to a 4:3 frame, and the AI images were cropped to the same shape, so image size and shape do not give the answer away. All image metadata (EXIF) was removed from both sides. One real photo was cropped to remove a small caption label, one was taken from the top half of a two-panel collage, and one was cropped to remove an unclear shape at the edge.

The real photographs used in the Volcanoes and lava: real or AI? quiz
SubjectReal photo sourceLicencePhotographer / uploader
Lava pouring over a cliffWikimedia CommonsPublic domainDonald A. Swanson, USGS
An arching lava fountainWikimedia CommonsPublic domainJim D. Griggs, HVO (USGS) staff photographer
Lava fountains behind a farmWikimedia CommonsPublic domainHawaii Volcanoes National Park
Lava fountaining in a craterWikimedia CommonsPublic domainJohanne Schmith, USGS (uploaded by James St. John)
An eruption seen from the airWikimedia CommonsCC0DCheretovich
Molten lava seen through a hole in the crustWikimedia CommonsPublic domainUSGS

Volcanoes and lava: real or AI? quiz: FAQ

How does the Volcanoes and lava: real or AI? quiz work?

You get 6 rounds. Each shows two photographs side by side. 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. There are 6 rounds because the quiz has 6 photo pairs, and each is used once per game.

Where do the real photos come from?

They are public-domain or CC0 photographs from Wikimedia Commons, most of them by the US Geological Survey and the US National Park Service, 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, not as copies of the real photographs. Both sides were cropped to the same 4:3 shape and stripped of metadata so that size and shape do not give the answer away. No real people are shown.

Why this topic?

Eruptions at Kilauea in Hawaii and elsewhere draw huge audiences online, and fake eruption clips with made-up captions get shared and fact-checked. This quiz shows landscapes and lava only, with no people, no damaged homes and no news footage. This quiz is a visual practice test. It cannot tell you whether a photo you found online is real.

Can people tell AI photos from real ones by looking?

Often not. Clues such as odd lettering, over-smooth texture, too-perfect symmetry or a very tidy composition help on a still image, but they are hints, not proof, and each one also appears in real photographs. They fade once a photo is cropped, filtered or re-shared.

Does TimeBinder tell me whether a 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 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 it, how it was made, or who holds the copyright. Read how to prove a photo is not AI for the honest limits.

Related guides and tools

Date the original 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.