When it comes to Halloween, fancy dress ideas get more and more creative each year - especially when it comes to celebrities.
It's not just the creepy costumes, such as vampires, witches and werewolves, that people pick out. Heroes from children's books, pop icons and even animals are among the looks you can see posted on socials - and some are so elaborate, it's almost impossible to work out the famous faces behind the layers of make-up and material.
But do you think you have what it takes to spot a Halloween costume that is genuine (treat) or AI-generated (trick)?
Trick or Treat?
It's been a busy year for Ed Sheeran with his eighth studio album released in September. This image of the singer in monkey costume would be perfect for a Halloween party - but is it real or AI?
It's AI!
This is an AI image that appeared in a meme - but it must have had an impact on Ed himself, as he recreated it in costume form for Halloween 2024.
One way to check if an image is AI is to look at its source. Is it from an account that is verified by a social platform?
This example is a little unusual, as it was shared by Ed himself, but in comparison with the costume he was wearing to recreate it. If an image has been posted on Ed's official account, it's easier to check if it's genuine as it will be verified (with a blue tick on Instagram), and has a large number of followers - 49.3m in this case.
Singer-songwriter Janelle Monae posts many different fancy dress looks on her Instagram account, with everything from vampires to Beetlejuice.
But how about this image of the rapper dressed as Dr Seuss's legendary Cat in the Hat? Is this real or AI?
It's real!
This is a genuine image, coming from Janelle's verified Instagram account which has more than 5m followers.
Janelle commented that the outfit was specially created for a music festival with a Halloween theme and credited the creative team that made it happen. Ten different people were involved, from prosthetics and make-up, to the costume itself, and even a fishbowl prop - with an extra nod to the photographer and their crew too! With so much information from a credible source, it's easier to tell that this is a genuine image.
Paris Hilton must be a massive fan of Britney Spears. This image shows her recreating the look from the pop star's 2000 mega-hit Oops!.. I Did it Again in readiness for Halloween party season.
But is this a genuine shot of Paris, or has she been generated by AI?
It's real!
Using #iconsonly - Paris introduced her 26.8m Instagram followers to a collection of images where she was dressed as Britney, with the comment: "Starting off #Halloweek by honoring my Queen."
The post gained more than 350k likes in just three days. Although it may have the airbrushed 'smooth' look that some AI images of celebrities can have, it is genuine - which shows how difficult is is getting to tell the difference between real photographs and AI-generated pictures.
Did you manage to pick out the Halloween AI images from the real thing? if you're getting good at it, why not try our other quizzes to see if you can spot more celebrity AI photos.
Remember to question things you see online, and don't take everything as genuine without checking sources first. When it comes to pictures, you can even do a reverse image search - one of the best ways to sort out the tricks from the treats!
This article was published in October 2025
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