Frequently Asked Questions

Digital Art is anything human-made on a computer:

• Photoshop paintings and concept art

• 3D renders (Blender, Maya, Unreal Engine)

• Cartoon and anime illustrations

• Video game screenshots

• Digital comics and manga

• Logos, mockups, infographics

Why this matters: Without this category, AI detectors confuse digital art with AI generation. A user scanning their Witcher 3 screenshot would get "AI" — that's wrong. Faux Spy Pro correctly identifies it as Digital Art.

This is huge for: digital artists, game devs, animators, designers, and anyone working with non-photographic content.

AI Photo: Photorealistic images generated by AI to look like real photos.

Examples: A "photo" of a CEO that doesn't exist, a "news image" of a fake event, AI-generated portraits passing as real.

AI Art: Stylized AI-generated artwork.

Examples: Midjourney fantasy art, Stable Diffusion portraits with painterly style, AI-generated illustrations.

Why care: AI Photos are dangerous (misinformation). AI Art is more often acceptable creative use. Different contexts need different responses.

"Inconclusive" means our detector isn't confident enough to make a call.

Common causes:

• Heavily filtered Instagram/Pinterest photos

• AI-edited real photos (Photoshop generative fill on real photo)

• Heavily compressed images

• Photo from newer AI generators we haven't fully learned

Rather than make a wrong call, we say "Inconclusive." This is more honest than incorrectly accusing real photos of being AI.

Honest accuracy estimates:

• Real photos: ~95% (very reliable)

• AI Photos: ~90% (high confidence on confirmed AI)

• Digital Art: ~85% (good at recognizing illustrations)

• AI Art: ~80% (overlapping signals with AI Photo)

• Inconclusive: Used when confidence falls below threshold (intentional)

No detector is 100% accurate. Faux Spy uses conservative thresholds to minimize false positives — when we're not certain, we say so.

Faux Spy is a Chrome extension that detects what kind of image you're looking at — Real photo, Digital art, AI photo, AI art, or Inconclusive.

One click. Any website. Instant verdict.

It works on Instagram, Pinterest, X (Twitter), Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn, TikTok, ArtStation, and any other website with images.

Faux Spy uses Sightengine's AI detection models:

• genai model: Detects AI-generated content

• type model: Distinguishes photos from illustrations (Pro only)

Together, these classify images into our 5 categories. The combination is what makes Faux Spy uniquely able to identify Digital Art separately from AI Art.

No. Faux Spy doesn't track your browsing, store images, or sell data.

Here's what happens when you investigate:

1. You actively click an image (we never scan automatically)
2. The image URL is sent to our backend
3. We forward it to Sightengine for analysis
4. The result is returned to you
5. Anonymous cache stores results to reduce costs

Anonymous user IDs only. No email or login required for free use.

Yes! The free tier gives you 10 image investigations per day, every day.

Free tier uses our 3-category detection: Real / Inconclusive / AI.

For 5-category detection (with Digital Art and AI Art), upgrade to Pro.

The 5-category system requires a second AI model call (the type detector). That doubles our per-scan cost with Sightengine.

Free users get the basic but excellent 3-category detection. Pro users get the advanced 5-category system that distinguishes digital art from AI.

This keeps Faux Spy sustainable without ads.

Each detection costs us money (we pay Sightengine per call). The 20/day limit lets us provide a free tier without going bankrupt.

If you need more, Pro is $9.99/month for unlimited detections + 5-category system.

Pro members get:

✓ 5-category detection — distinguishes Real, Digital Art, Inconclusive, AI Art, AI Photo

✓ Unlimited investigations — no daily limits

✓ Deep Dive mode — scan every image on a page automatically

✓ Detective Case Files — searchable history of your investigations

✓ Priority detection — faster response times

✓ Priority support — direct email response within 24 hours

Case Files is a Pro feature that automatically saves a record of every image you investigate — up to 200 entries, stored locally on your device. Access your history from the Faux Spy popup. No investigation data is sent to our servers.

Depends on your use case.

Worth it for:

• Digital artists who want their work distinguished from AI

• Game developers verifying assets aren't AI-generated

• Designers and animators

• Journalists fact-checking image authenticity

• Heavy social media users who need volume

• Anyone who's hit the 20/day free limit

Not necessary for:

• Casual users who scan a few images per week

• Users who only care if something is "AI or not"

1. Visit fauxspy.com/pro

2. Click "Subscribe Monthly" ($9.99/mo) or "Subscribe Yearly" ($99/yr — save 17%)

3. Complete payment via Stripe Checkout

4. You'll receive a license key by email

5. Open the extension → HQ Settings → Pro License section

6. Paste your license key and click Activate

7. Pro features unlock instantly!

Yes. Cancel anytime through:

• Visit fauxspy.com/account

• Enter your email

• Click the link in the email to access Stripe's billing portal

• Click "Cancel subscription"

You'll keep Pro features until the end of your current billing period.

14-day money-back guarantee. If you're not happy, email us at hello@fauxspy.com within 14 days of your first payment for a full refund, no questions asked.

See our full refund policy for details.

Yes! Your Pro license works on any device. Just paste the same license key in each device's HQ Settings.

Currently:

✅ Chrome (primary)
✅ Edge (Chromium-based)
✅ Brave (Chromium-based)
✅ Opera (Chromium-based)

Coming soon: Firefox, Safari

We request only what's needed:

• activeTab — Read images on your active tab when you click "Investigate"
• contextMenus — Adds the right-click "Investigate" option
• storage — Save settings and license locally
• <all_urls> — Detect images on any website

We don't access tabs you're not using or read your history.

If you're on the free tier, this is a known limitation. Free tier only knows "AI" or "Real" — it can't recognize human-made digital art as a separate category.

Solution: Upgrade to Pro for 5-category detection that correctly identifies Digital Art (paintings, renders, illustrations) as separate from AI.

If you're already on Pro and it's still wrong, please contact us with the image URL — we'll investigate.

"Inconclusive" appears when detection confidence falls in the uncertain zone. This is intentional — we don't want to make false claims.

Common reasons:

• Image is heavily filtered or edited
• Image is from a CDN that compresses heavily
• Image is small or low quality
• Newer AI generators detection models haven't fully learned

Instagram lazy-loads images. Try:

1. Refresh the Instagram tab
2. Wait 2-3 seconds after page loads
3. Try Ctrl+Click on the image directly

License keys look like: FAUX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

Common issues:

• Make sure you're copying the full key (24 characters with dashes)
• Check spaces — no spaces should be in the key
• Internet connection required to validate

If still failing, contact support.