‘It’s Real:’ Tennessee Department of Tourist Development launches anti-AI campaign
By Anne Braly (Tennessee Lookout) Published: July 6, 2026
It’s easy to be fooled by AI photos, so in an effort to help Tennessee travelers verify where online photos were taken, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development has launched its new “It’s Real” campaign. It’s a program that promises that the photos you see on its website – TNVacation.com – are not AI-generated, but the real thing.
“It’s a commitment to authenticity and a promise to travelers that, when it comes to Tennessee, what you see is what you get,” says Mark Ezell, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.
The campaign does not include filtered pictures that may make sunsets a little more brilliant or autumn leaves a little more colorful. Conversely, AI-generated photos might have a tree in a yard where there is none or a mountain in West Tennessee where the land is pancake-flat.
Ezell says it’s up to his department to inspire Tennesseans and others to choose to travel in the Volunteer State and plan their experiences with confidence.
“Travelers rely heavily on photos when deciding where to go, and our survey showed that many people struggle to tell the difference between real and AI-generated images,” he says.
Tennessee Tourism’s certification includes content credentials and secure metadata to show travelers who, when, where and what the photos they are seeing were captured. This will be done for both new and existing photos on its website.
We want to make sure travelers know when they look at photos on TNVacation.com, they can trust that what they see is a real place captured by a real photographer.
– Commissioner Mark Ezell, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development
Nancy McCullough of Brentwood, Tenn., travels regularly in the state and has seen pictures of places she’s been to and knows fully well that what she’s seeing is not true to reality. And she thinks the Get Real campaign is one that travelers to the state will appreciate.
“It’s a fabulous idea,” she says. “It’s hard enough to trust what you see on the internet these days anyway. But if you know that the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development is following the no-AI rule, then you should be able to know that ‘what you see is what you get.”
That’s what Ezell says the Get Real campaign is all about,
“Our travelers deserve to know before they go,” he says.
Geographically speaking, Tennessee is divided into three “grand divisions” — East, Middle and West — each with distinct landscapes, climates and elevations.
“Tennessee is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes, cityscapes and attractions in the country, and we believe that beauty stands on its own,” Ezell says. “We also know it’s getting harder to spot the difference between what’s real and what’s not. We want to make sure travelers know when they look at photos on TNVacation.com, they can trust that what they see is a real place captured by a real photographer.”
Jared Kreiss often contributes photos seen on TNVacation.com, and while, as a professional photographer, he’s usually able to distinguish between AI and real photos, he knows many people, particularly older people who may be less experienced with newer technology, cannot tell the difference, he says.
“I find it incredibly frustrating to see AI-generated images being passed off as photography of real places, and even more frustrating when people believe they’re real. To me, that’s deceptive,” he adds. “It’s becoming harder and harder to tell real from AI. I am incredibly excited about this campaign and to know Tennessee’s tourism department is working to preserve what is real. I think it is more important than ever to protect that. I really value that.”
Costs for the Get Real campaign are incorporated into the tourism department’s existing marketing efforts to introduce the certification to travelers through paid promotions. There are no significant new expenditures associated with the program, says Ezell.
According to figures released from Tourism Economics and TDTD, 2025 was a banner year for tourism in the state with 147 million visitors spending a record $31.7 billion. That’s a 3.3% year-ver-year increase and 36.6% growth since 2018.
“Our job is to market Tennessee and help bring visitors to our state,’ Ezell says. “Giving travelers the confidence in what they see helps support that mission. Using real and authentic photos for our marketing is a priority.”
Tennessee is the first state to implement a program like this, and it’s one that Ezell hopes other states will follow.
“As travelers and consumers of the internet ourselves, we’ve all experienced moments where we question whether what we’re seeing online is real,” he says. “We saw an opportunity to be proactive and help travelers feel more confident when they choose to travel to Tennessee. Our job is to bring people to Tennessee and show them the beauty of our state, and we rely heavily on photos to do that.”
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