To clarify, whenever I mention AI edited images, I'm talking about an image that is given to an AI model like ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini for it to modify. Tools like GraXpert are fine as they don't change the base details of the image.

A while back I posted a rant about how AI edited images were becoming a bit of a problem on here. Now months later, it's only getting worse. So often recently, I open the app to see "stunning" images (at first glance) in the top images section only to take a closer look at them and realize that they are fake due to the user letting an AI edit them completely. Some of these are a bit more obvious than others with the most obvious being nebulae and galaxies that just don't exist, or an image with the Gemini AI logo literally in the corner of the frame (if you don't know what the logo looks like I'll have an example further down).

I just ran into a post a few hours ago from a user by the name of "AstroShooterNrw." It was a shot of M27 that had the Gemini logo in their image. I checked their profile and they also had a shot of M16 and NGC6888 with the same problem. After leaving a comment on the M27 image questioning the logo, it was quickly deleted by the user along with the other two mentioned images. Immediately after, all three shots were reposted with the logo simply cropped out to try and hide their blatant use of AI. The first two images below show the Gemini logo in their shots (the M16 one was deleted before I could screenshot it) and the third is the reposted shots with the logo cropped out of each. You can tell they were deleted and reposted due to the like discrepancies in the screenshots.

From this experience, and many others, it is pretty evident that users like this do not care very much about astrophotography or astronomy. They simply want to cheat their way to "fame" on this platform by wowing people with AI generated or AI edited content. An insane amount of people are falling for it too even including some of ZWO's appointed judges. I would expect to run into AI images in places like Facebook, X, or Instagram but not as much as I have on a dedicated astrophotography platform. I also did not expect it to be as largely unchallenged/unnoticed as it is on here.

It is incredibly frustrating to watch all of this happen and to be honest I don't really care to post on here anymore since things have only gotten worse. This will likely be one of my last posts. I'll make one final image post later if I still feel the same way after giving it more thought.