← All articlesAugust 8, 2026 · 6 min read
Why AI Photos Look Plastic — and How to Fix It
Waxy skin, glassy eyes, light that’s too even. We break down six signs that instantly give away an AI-generated feed.
“Looks AI-generated” isn’t about the scene — it’s about physics. Below are six things that give a generation away, and what to write in the prompt so they don’t happen.
Skin with no pores
Models smooth skin down to plastic by default. The fix is a direct instruction on texture: pores, slight asymmetry, natural tone variation. Perfect skin reads as fake faster than anything else.
Light from nowhere
If the shadows don’t match the light source, the brain catches the trick before the eye does. Always specify the direction: backlit, side light, from a window on the left.
