AI can now 'see' optical illusions. What does it tell us about our own brains?

BBC ^ | January 12, 2026 | Sandrine Ceurstemont

[Twotone]

Our eyes can frequently play tricks on us, but scientists have discovered that some artificial intelligence can fall for the same illusions. And it is changing what we know about our brains.

When we look up at the Moon, it seems larger when it is close to the horizon compared to when it is higher up in the sky even though its size, and the distance between the Earth and the Moon, remains much the same during the course of a night.

Optical illusions such as these show that we don't always perceive reality the way we should. They are often considered to be mistakes made by our visual system. But illusions also reveal the clever shortcuts our brains use to extract the most important details of our surroundings.

In truth, our brains only accept a sip of the world around us – it would be too much to process every detail of our busy visual environments, so instead they pick out only the details we need.

But what happens when you give a synthetic mind – a machine vision system powered by artificial intelligence – an optical illusion? These systems excel at detail. They are designed to spot the patterns and the blemishes we do not. It is why they have been so effective at spotting the early signs of diseases in medical scans, for example.

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KEYWORDS: ai; opticalillusions

[Empire_of_Liberty]

I believe that we are designed to see squirrels, and throw rocks at them.

[fruser1]

So it can also “fall” for scams like socialism or democrat talking points.

[Sacajaweau]

AI seems to interfere with everything...kills reality.

[gloryblaze]

Doe it think the dress is yellow or blue?

[Larry Lucido]

[Kudsman]

Can it tell what a woman is?

[maddog55]

AI generates optical illusions with every video it makes and picture it generates