Finding AI-Generated Faces in the Wild
Not on the map. Why?
Abstract (arXiv)
AI-based image generation has continued to rapidly improve, producing increasingly more realistic images with fewer obvious visual flaws. AI-generated images are being used to create fake online profiles which in turn are being used for spam, fraud, and disinformation campaigns. As the general problem of detecting any type of manipulated or synthesized content is receiving increasing attention, here we focus on a more narrow task of distinguishing a real face from an AI-generated face. This is particularly applicable when tackling inauthentic online accounts with a fake user profile photo. We show that by focusing on only faces, a more resilient and general-purpose artifact can be detected that allows for the detection of AI-generated faces from a variety of GAN- and diffusion-based synthesis engines, and across image resolutions (as low as 128 x 128 pixels) and qualities.
Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 25 of its 37 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 14 Nov 2023.
Builds on
25 of 37 references.
References · 25
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13 more
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2024: 3; 2025: 4; 2026: 1.
8 papers.
- 2024Detecting Multimedia Generated by Large AI Models: A Surveycited by 73
- 2025Characterizing Photorealism and Artifacts in Diffusion Model-Generated Imagescited by 13
- 2024Deepfakes and Higher Education: A Research Agenda and Scoping Review of Synthetic Mediacited by 4
- 2024Synthetic Photography Detection: A Visual Guidance for Identifying Synthetic Images Created by AIcited by 3
- 2026Quality-Aware Calibration for AI-Generated Image Detection in the Wildcited by 2
- 2025LoRAX: LoRA eXpandable Networks for Continual Synthetic Image Attributioncited by 1
- 2025MSPT: A Lightweight Face Image Quality Assessment Method with Multi-stage Progressive Trainingcited by 1
- 2025Beyond Real versus Fake Towards Intent-Aware Video Analysiscited by 0
- 2026Quality-Aware Calibration for AI-Generated Image Detection in the Wild16 Apr 2026
- 2025Beyond Real versus Fake Towards Intent-Aware Video Analysis27 Nov 2025
- 2025MSPT: A Lightweight Face Image Quality Assessment Method with Multi-stage Progressive Training11 Aug 2025
- 2025LoRAX: LoRA eXpandable Networks for Continual Synthetic Image Attribution10 Apr 2025
- 2025Characterizing Photorealism and Artifacts in Diffusion Model-Generated Images17 Feb 2025
- 2024Synthetic Photography Detection: A Visual Guidance for Identifying Synthetic Images Created by AI12 Aug 2024
- 2024Deepfakes and Higher Education: A Research Agenda and Scoping Review of Synthetic Media24 Apr 2024
- 2024Detecting Multimedia Generated by Large AI Models: A Survey22 Jan 2024