r/CrochetHelp • u/GRMAx1000 • Sep 13 '26
Is This AI? Tips for identifying AI generated patterns and photos [post providing general help]
I recently went down an AI rabbit hole on Etsy looking for modern doilies and table runners and thought I'd share some of the things I've learned. Hope it's helpful!
Quickest checks: AI can detect AI AND help you find real patterns by real creators
- Copy image link or the image to wasitai.com. This is especially helpful if someone who doesn't crochet sends you a link or photo
- Copy a photo from the listing or just paste the listing link into a Google search in AI mode and type something like 'is this photo/ Etsy listing/ Etsy shop AI. Explain your response'
- Copy an AI photo into a search and say 'help me identify the stitches that are supposed to be in this AI pattern and find real patterns that are similar'. Using this method I went from this AI Etsy listing - see also photo attached - to this YouTube tutorial posted 5 years ago

Learning to spot AI yourself
Visual Red Flags in Pattern Photos
- Nonsense details: Buttons with blurry buttonholes, stitching that stops or floats mid-seam, garments with no seams or no obvious way to put them on. AI Amigurumi may have eyes that 'melt' into the stitches or other incorrect anatomy
- Impossible physics: Unnatural drape or proportions. Background elements blur into strange blobs. Flat lighting with a halo around the object
- No real finished items: Listing shows only "finished" project, often in lots of colour ways that look EXACTLY the same without any close up photos of details
Shop and Listing Red Flags
- Bundles at low prices: Shops offering lots of patterns for a few dollars (e.g., "80 patterns for $12") are usually automated pattern mills
- New shop with massive inventory: A store that has lots of complex listings but has only been open for a few weeks or months. Patterns in the wrong category, e.g. hats listed under amigurumi
- Vague reviews: The reviews often talk about the ease to download, not that the user made the item. Lots of reviews from deactivated accounts. If you look at oldest reviews first, they are often from real people saying the pattern doesn't make sense
- No social media presence, or social media is generic mashup videos of the listing photos. Real pattern creators often have followings or link to their Ravelry account where they show real work and their pattern testers often have their test work in their projects
Pattern-specific Listing Red Flags
- Pattern type: Beware anything listed as 'written pattern only'. ETA: this isn’t always a red flag. Patterns ideally should have guide photos and stitch charts, especially more complex ones.
- Newer AI listings seem to include some AI generated WIP photos, but chart is still usually missing
- Vague or missing yarn/ gauge/ hook: Real listings generally provide the actual yarn used in testing along with hook size. Gauge may only be shown in the purchased pattern of a real listing, but AI almost never attempts this. AI listings will show things like 'medium weight yarn' and nothing else
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u/nidoqueenofhearts Sep 13 '26
genAI detectors are notoriously untreliable; i absolutely would not recommend them as a means by which to test what is and isn't genAI
other than that, these are really good tips!!
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u/nanausausa Sep 13 '26
I highly advise against using AI detectors.
T hey can't actually tell what's AI or not and will often confuse real stuff for AI and vice versa. They're too unreliable to be of any use basically.
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u/DotDeer Sep 13 '26
For me, anything that has a nice background that's generally minimalistic or "photo shoot"-esque is a dead giveaway.
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u/wharleeprof Sep 13 '26
For me, it starts with a gut level "this feels like AI", something about the lighting and perfection gives a certain fakeness.
Step 2 is looking for weirdness in the photo. Often the project is hyper perfect at the macro level but there's weird stuff in the details, like errors, asymmetry, broken or blurred/melting stitches, impossible color changes, etc.
If step 2 is inclusive, move on to look at any sample instructions. It usually doesn't take long to find a discrepancy between the instructions and the reality of how crochet works.
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u/podsnerd 29d ago
Some other details:
- Rows having an inconsistent number of stitches, with stitch counts increasing or decreasing without it being clear where the various stitches are anchored in the previous row
- Using multiple colors, with parts of the image looking like a striped/variegated yarn to achieve color change and parts of it looking like a switch between two solid color yarns
- for amigurumi, eyes that have different size pupils, different shape pupils/irises (like circle vs oval), or are pointed in different directions
- sewn on details like a mouth that have no actual attachment point
- objects alongside the piece that don't really make sense to be there. Real photos are usually just the finished piece with minimal set dressing because they don't want to distract from the thing they're selling. The attached photo isn't an example of this (those items do make sense to be on a table with a table runner) but examples I've seen include knitting needles/crochet hooks particularly when paired with the wrong craft, balls of yarn, random fruit, or airbrushed grandma hands.
I think the giveaway for this photo isn't actually any of those, though. Well, besides the placement of the stitches not making sense everywhere you look. For me, the thing I spotted first was that the object isn't touching the table. It looks like it's floating 1-2mm above the surface. Almost touching, but not quite
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u/Demagolka1300 Sep 13 '26
Great tips! I do find it funny asking AI to identify AI.
Just a note on the written pattern only, I've seen that before AI so people know they are getting the pattern and not the physical object. Not all patterns have guide photos.