How to tell if a video is AI-generated
Check what the creator says before you check anything else. A video description, a pinned comment, on-screen or end credits, or a channel's about page will usually tell you more than a frame-by-frame look ever will, and it's the hardest of these checks to fake. Visual and audio tells still catch weaker generations, so treat them as a second check, not the first. Below: both checks, and how glu.tv records the answer for a specific film or creator.
Check what the creator says first
Most AI filmmakers say so unprompted. Naming Kling, Veo, Seedance or whichever stack they used doubles as proof of their own work, so plenty of creators volunteer it without anyone asking. Check the description first, then a pinned comment, then the credits, then the channel's about page.
That's the highest-confidence source there is: someone attaching their own name to how they made something, in public.
The gap runs both ways, though. Plenty of real disclosure never makes it into writing, and a channel that stays quiet about tools hasn't necessarily hidden anything. Read silence as unconfirmed, not as a verdict.
Visual and audio tells still catch some of it
Fingers that warp under motion, text and logos that dissolve into nonsense, shadows falling the wrong way, blinking that's a beat too regular. All of it still shows up in weaker AI video, and none of it takes long to spot once you know to look.
None of it is proof, though.
Every one of these tells has a shelf life. What caught last year's Sora doesn't catch this year's, and the newest video models are closing the gap on lip-sync and hands faster than any list can keep up with. Treat this as a second check on a film with no stated tools, not a substitute for one.
The label YouTube sometimes shows
YouTube asks creators to flag realistic content that's meaningfully altered or generated with AI, and when a creator switches that on in YouTube Studio, viewers see a disclosure label on the video. It only applies to content the policy treats as realistic enough to need it, so a stylised animation or an obviously synthetic short can skip it entirely and still be exactly what it looks like.
It also only appears when a creator ticks the box.
We've indexed AI films carrying the label and plenty without it, so read it as one more data point, not the test itself.
What glu.tv records
We don't run detection software, and we don't infer a pipeline from footage. A credit on glu.tv exists because the creator named it, in the film, its description or its credits, and every film and creator page states the answer in one line you can quote directly, like the one on BONE THRONE, made by Lennard Smith with Kling 3 and Seedance 2.
If nothing's named, the page says so instead.
Say a creator states plainly that no generative AI went into a video. We don't hedge, footnote it or leave the film up with a caveat, we take it down. glu.tv only exists to credit AI-generated work, so a film that isn't doesn't belong here regardless of anything else about it.
And where nothing's been said either way, the page says exactly that. The Last King Of Men Went Into The Forest Alone, from Epic AI Films, plays here as an AI-generated film with no tools named, because that's what's true, and guessing wouldn't make it more useful.
Check a specific film or creator
Every film and creator on glu.tv carries its own answer, built the same way whichever side it lands on. A few to start with:
- BONE THRONE, credited to Lennard Smith with Kling 3 and Seedance 2
- The Last King Of Men Went Into The Forest Alone, an AI-generated film from Epic AI Films with no tools named
- Epic AI Films, a creator page listing every film we've indexed from that channel and what each one credits
- Kling, a tool page listing every film on glu.tv that credits it
Search or browse from the home page if the film or creator you're checking isn't linked above. If it's on glu.tv, it has a page, and the page has an answer.
Frequently asked questions
Can you tell just by watching?
Not reliably, no. The best current models pass a casual watch, and often a careful one too, so treat visual tells as a backup rather than a first check. Start with what the creator says instead.
What's the single best thing to check?
Whatever the creator wrote down. A YouTube description, a pinned comment, on-screen or end credits, or a channel's about page usually says more than the footage does, and creators disclose more often than people assume, since naming the tools works as its own kind of credit.
Does YouTube label AI-generated video automatically?
Only when a creator switches it on in YouTube Studio, for content the policy treats as realistic enough to need it. Most of what's on glu.tv is stylised or obviously synthetic enough that creators never trigger it in the first place, so read the label as one more data point, not the test itself.
How does glu.tv verify a film is AI-generated?
We record what the creator said and nothing more. If they've named the tools, in the film, the description or the credits, we list them; if they haven't, the page says so instead of guessing. We don't run detection software and we don't infer a pipeline from footage.
What happens if a creator says their video isn't AI-generated?
It comes off glu.tv. The site exists to credit AI-generated work, so a film whose own creator says otherwise doesn't belong here, and we remove it rather than argue with them about it.
Can an AI detector tool settle it for me?
Treat a detector score as a guess, not a verdict. Different tools disagree with each other on the same clip often enough that we don't run one ourselves, and a creator's own statement remains the stronger evidence.