AI detectors guess if an image is AI-made. Receipts.you proves when a file existed.
AI image detectors (Hive, Optic, Sensity, GPTZero for text, and so on) attempt to classify whether an image was generated by Midjourney / SDXL / DALL-E / etc. They produce a probability score, not a proof — and the scores degrade rapidly as generation models improve, as adversarial post-processing matures, and as detector training data ages. Receipts.you doesn't try to answer 'is this AI?' — it answers a different question: 'did this file exist in this exact form at this timestamp?' For AI-related disputes, the questions you actually want answered usually map to provenance: 'did this image exist before the alleged AI-generation date?' (provenance) rather than 'is this AI?' (probabilistic detection). The two tools cover different evidence shapes and should not be confused for each other.
If you need to know 'was this image AI-generated,' an AI detector is the closest available tool — but its answer is probabilistic and the reliability is decaying. If you need to know 'did this exact file exist before date X,' use receipts.you (or any other cryptographic timestamping tool). The two questions are often confused; the answers come from different categories of tooling.
Pick receipts.you if…
- You need to prove a file existed before a specific date (e.g., 'this photo existed before the AI model was trained').
- You want a deterministic answer (match / mismatch), not a probability score.
- You're sealing your own work to defensibly claim 'this is human-made, here's the timestamp I had it'.
- You're a creator pre-emptively timestamping originals so AI-generation accusations don't stick.
- Court / regulatory contexts that want yes/no evidence, not classifier scores.
Pick AI image detectors if…
- You actually need to know 'is this image AI-generated' for a downstream decision (and you accept the probabilistic answer).
- You're moderating user-generated content at scale and need automated triage of AI vs. real.
- You're publishing a journalism piece and want a quick second-opinion classifier alongside primary-source verification.
- The image has no provenance trail and probabilistic classification is the only available signal.
Axis by axis
| Axis | receipts.you | AI image detectors | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question answered | When did this file exist? | Is this image AI-generated? | both / tie |
| Answer shape | Deterministic — match or mismatch. | Probabilistic — confidence score 0-100%. | receipts.you |
| Reliability over time | Cryptographic — doesn't decay. | Decays as generation models improve and adversarial techniques mature. | receipts.you |
| Useful for proving non-AI | Indirectly — pre-AI-era timestamp proves pre-AI provenance. | Directly attempts to — but probabilistic and degrading. | receipts.you |
| Useful for proving IS AI | No — we don't classify content. | Yes — primary use case, with caveats. | the other tool |
| Cost | Free. | Free tier + paid API for volume. | receipts.you |
| Privacy of file | Image never leaves browser. | Typically uploaded to detector's classifier. | receipts.you |
| Defensibility in court | Cryptographic primitives accepted under standard rules. | Classifier output is opinion evidence; weight contested. | receipts.you |
| Works on text / video / audio | Image files only in v1. | Some detectors cover text + image; few cover video reliably. | both / tie |
| Survives evasion techniques | Yes — cryptographic match is binary. | No — adversarial post-processing reliably defeats most detectors. | receipts.you |
Specific questions about this comparison
Can receipts.you tell me if an image is AI-generated?
No — we don't classify content. But we can prove a different useful thing: that a specific file existed at a specific timestamp. For 'this photo existed in 2018, before Midjourney was released' kinds of provenance arguments, the receipt timestamp is direct evidence; the AI-detector probability score is at best supporting evidence and often misleading.
Are AI detectors reliable?
They were more reliable in 2023 than they are in 2026, and we expect them to be less reliable in 2027 than they are now. Each major generation-model release degrades detector performance; adversarial training techniques specifically targeting detector classifiers have matured. Use detector output as a weak signal, not as proof. For evidence that needs to hold up to challenge, layer detector output with provenance evidence (receipts.you, C2PA, Wayback) and primary-source verification.
If I seal a photo today, does that prove it's not AI-generated?
It proves the file existed in this form at the sealing timestamp. It doesn't prove the file wasn't AI-generated before sealing. If you generated it via Midjourney at T-1 and sealed at T, the receipt is honest about the sealing time — it can't reach backwards to verify the upstream provenance. For 'this is human-made' claims, sealing during creation (or layering with C2PA at capture) is the strongest stack.
Can I combine receipts.you with an AI detector for a stronger case?
Yes. Receipts.you provides the cryptographic timestamp; an AI detector provides a probability the content is AI-generated. For evidence packages — disputes, journalism, regulatory submissions — both layers help. The receipt anchors the chain of custody; the detector contributes a probabilistic content classification. Neither alone is the whole story; together they form a stronger evidentiary stack than either standalone.
Will receipts.you ever do AI detection?
Not in current scope. Probabilistic classification is a fundamentally different engineering problem (model training, classifier calibration, ongoing adversarial-robustness maintenance) than cryptographic provenance. We'd rather do one thing rigorously than two things badly. For AI detection, dedicated specialists (Hive, Sensity, Optic) are better-equipped — though we encourage you to read their honest disclaimers about reliability degradation.
Provenance, not classification.
If you need to prove when a file existed, receipts.you is deterministic and cryptographic. If you need to guess whether it's AI-made, that's a different (and harder) tool.