HEAAADERLOGORIGHT

ENGLISH FOR TEENAGERS · GENERAL ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

FAKE
PHOTOS
QrrkoD Scan to review worksheet

Expemo code:
1C1L-24LC-4LQ4

1 Warm up
Look at the following pictures and answer the questions.

picture A picture B picture C

picture D picture E

Pictures A, B, C: Which one of these people was AI-generated?

Picture D: What season of the year was this photo of the Pope probably taken?

Picture E: This photo is connected to a news story about radiation-affected flowers. In which
decade did this happen?

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 1/7

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Przemysław Jankowski's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

FAKE PHOTOS

2 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match the vocabulary to their definitions.

1. veracity (n) a. genuine and real

2. ill-intent (n) b. too much to be managed or handled

3. watermarks (n) c. a planned deception

4. authentic (adj.) d. a desire to cause negative effects

5. hoax (n) e. represent artistically

6. overwhelm (v) f. a kind of marker to identify the source of something

7. rendered (adj.) g. funny or strange because it is different from what you’d expect

8. supposedly (adv.) h. the quality of being truthful and accurate

9. ironically (adv.) i. what is said or believed by many to be true

Part B: Complete the gaps in the sentences using the words above. In some cases, the form of the
word will need to change.

1. Although the analyst was an expert in Leonardo Da Vinci, he was

unable to detect that the painting was fake.

2. The apparent discovery of a new Leonardo Da Vinci painting turned out to be a

.

3. The of his whole story was in question when they realised he got
some key details wrong.

4. , the politician who tried to ban drugs in his town was caught taking
drugs himself.

5. The photo had a on it identifying the source as Burkman Images.

6. The team was so by work that they all had to work over the weekend
to get it done.

7. Computer security is important for companies which can become the targets of hackers with
.

8. The jeweller checked the piece and confirmed it really was an diamond.

9. The artist’s of the cat’s fur was incredible, you could almost imagine
it were a real cat.

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 2/7

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Przemysław Jankowski's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

FAKE PHOTOS

3 Reading comprehension

Part A: You are going to read an article about fake photos (page...). Before you read, try to answer the
true/false questions about the information that will appear in the article.

1. The creator of the AI picture of the Pope did it as a protest against him and Catholicism.

a. True b. False

2. People can easily tell when a picture is fake.

a. True b. False

3. One method to help people spot AI-generated photos is by using other AI tools.

a. True b. False

4. There have never been fake photos before AI existed.

a. True b. False

5. There is no way to check if a photo is real or not.

a. True b. False

Part B: Read the text in detail and in pairs or small groups discuss the following questions.

1. Were you surprised by any of the information in the reading?

2. Have you been fooled by a photo you later learned was fake?
3. Should we start regulating AI-produced photos? Why, why not?
4. What are the possible consequences of the increase in AI photos?

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 3/7

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Przemysław Jankowski's lessons.

UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
FAKE PHOTOS
Fake pictures
Pictures paint a thousand words and the camera never lies, but can we trust them anymore?
1. AI and the Pope
In March 2023, pictures of the Pope wearing a white
puffy coat went viral. But it turned out that the
photos had been generated by an AI tool called
Midjourney. The creator of the images, Pablo Xavier,
had no ill-intent. He said: "I just thought it was funny
to see the Pope in a funny jacket." But the controversy
around the pictures helped him realise the potential
impact of AI-generated images. "It’s definitely going
to get serious if they don’t start implementing laws to
regulate it.”
2. We’re bad at spotting fake AI pictures
Each AI image varies in how convincing it may be.
However, as technology improves, it is becoming
5.
more and more difficult to detect the veracity of
an image. One experiment in 2021 by Lancaster
University in England tested whether people could
distinguish between AI-created headshots and real
images and on average, people were around the same
level as pure chance. The study’s co-author, Sophie
Nightingale, said that in a second test, where the
test subjects were given suggestions of what to look
for, such as poorly rendered hands, blurred teeth or
mismatched earrings, their accuracy only improved
by around 10%
3. Technology to the rescue?
Ironically, humans’ best defence from being fooled
by an AI system may be yet another AI system:
one trained to detect artificial images. There is
another angle though; it could be possible to embed
watermarks as a unique identifier into the pixels of
photos which would identify the image as AI. It could
also work in the other direction, where the original
camera could add a kind of digital signature at the
point an image is captured, which would allow the
image to be verifiable as authentic.
4. Faked pictures are not new
While the progress of technology has increased the
number of fake images, there have been fake photos
since the early days of photography. In 1840, only
two years after the first ever photo of a human
being, French photography pioneer Hippolyte Bayard
created a photo where he appeared to be dead.
FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting!
Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Przemysław Jankowski's lessons.
HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
But, it was a hoax and he had only faked the
picture. Of course, he had to make quite an effort to
achieve the effect he wanted. These days, however,
with new technology, it is as easy as typing a few
words into an online AI tool. Of course, AI is not
necessary to mislead. It is also possible to present
a real photo in an inaccurate way. For example, in
a recent study from Stanford University, students
were shown a photograph of daisies which were
supposedly "Fukushima Nuclear Flowers". Of the
170 high school students who saw the image, less
than 20% successfully questioned the source of the
photo. This effect is not due to radiation, it’s actually
a natural process called fasciation.
Humans need to be sceptical
So, what does this all mean? Users need to evaluate
visual information by considering the source and the
veracity of the photo, especially before sharing it
online. So, how can we spot fake images circulating
on the internet? Here are a few methods:
a) Do a reverse image search. This can be done at
sites like tineye.com or Google Images. It is a good
way to find out more information about the image,
for instance, it may have already been revealed as a
fake.
b) See if you can check the veracity of photos online.
There are various fact-checking websites, such as
snopes.com, which can provide information on online
photos and stories.
c) Image expert, Hany Farid, suggests also looking at
the source which has published the image. Photos
published on well-known news sites, such as the
New York Times or BBC have a higher likelihood of
being real compared to unknown media sites, blogs,
or Facebook.
d) Finally, ask whether the photo might be too good
to be true. If you have some doubts, check it out.
On the other hand, as Farid says, don’t let your
scepticism overwhelm you as: ‘’...it is just as easy
to think that a real photo is fake, as the other way
around."
Sources: BBC, The Conversation, Buzz Feed News
4/7
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

FAKE PHOTOS

4 Language point: dummy subjects "it" and "there"

Part A: Look at the box below.

• Every clause in English needs a subject (‘doer’) and a verb,

The cat is meowing.

subject verb

• However, in some sentences, there is no real subject, so in these cases, a "dummy" subject
is used instead.
• Note: Dummy subjects are also known by other names such as empty subjects,
placeholder subjects, empty it, and existential there.
• These are the words "it" and "there".

It is raining. There is a big dog.

• It is often used for a time, dates, the weather, and opinions and general statements.

It is 8 o’clock. It’s snowing.

It’s late. It’s a great movie.

• Be careful, "it" can be a real subject.

Look at that dog. It is big. ("it" refers to the dog)

• We use there to say something exists. (And note, as a subject, there cannot be used as a
real subject. It is always a dummy subject.)

There is a big dog.

There are a lot of people here.

I’m afraid there’s a problem.

• However, note that the word there is also used as an adverb of place, be careful not to
confuse them.

The dog is over there by the cat.

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 5/7

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Przemysław Jankowski's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

FAKE PHOTOS

Part B: Write down which number of sentences use ‘’it” and ‘’there” as dummy subjects.

1. It is often said that the camera never lies.

2. I just thought it was funny to see the Pope in a funny jacket.

3. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the fake pictures.

4. As AI technology becomes more used, governments will have to start regulating it.

5. You can tell it is an AI-generated picture. There are eight fingers on the left hand.

6. I’ve printed out the pictures we need for our presentation. They are in the green folder over there
on the table.

7. There are various fact-checking websites which can provide information on online photos and
stories.

8. AI technology is moving so rapidly that keeping up with it is a challenge.

5 Speaking: roleplay
You are going to do a debate playing the roles of a publisher and editor of a magazine called Everything
New. It is a respected magazine that has articles on current affairs and culture. Try to reach a decision
or compromise. What will you do?

Publisher

You are the publisher of Everything New magazine, and in order to save money, you want the
editor to start using more AI-generated images instead of paying illustrators, photographers,
and photo agencies. You see nothing wrong with it and it would be a good way of cutting
back financially as the magazine has not been selling as well recently. Your only interest is
the financial success of the magazine. If the editor doesn’t agree you are thinking of replacing
them.

Editor-in-chief

You are the editor-in-chief of Everything New magazine. You do not want to use AI-
images. You have an ethical objection to them and you believe they would undermine the
trustworthiness of the magazine in the eyes of the readers. But you are worried about your
job as the magazine has been struggling recently. But you still want to convince the publisher
to not push the magazine to use AI-images.

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 6/7

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Przemysław Jankowski's lessons.