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Main Authors: Xie, Wenwei, Yin, Jie, Ma, Lu, Zhang, Xuansong, Zhang, Wenjing
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17268
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author Xie, Wenwei
Yin, Jie
Ma, Lu
Zhang, Xuansong
Zhang, Wenjing
author_facet Xie, Wenwei
Yin, Jie
Ma, Lu
Zhang, Xuansong
Zhang, Wenjing
contents AI-generated imagery has reached near-photorealistic fidelity, yet this technology poses significant threats to information security and societal trust. Existing deepfake detection methods often exhibit limited robustness in open-world scenarios. To address this limitation, this paper investigates intrinsic discrepancies between synthetic and authentic images from a signal-level perspective. Our analysis reveals that low-correlation signals serve as distinctive markers for differentiating AI-generated imagery from real photographs. Building on this insight, we introduce a novel method for quantifying these signals based on fractal theory. By analyzing the fractal characteristics of low-correlation signals, our method effectively captures the subtle statistical anomalies inherent to the synthesis process. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the method's robustness and superior detection performance. This work emphasizes the need to shift research focus to a new signal-level direction for deepfake detection. Theoretically, this proposed approach is not limited to face image identification but can be applied to all AI-generated image detection tasks. This study provides a new research direction for deepfake detection.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_17268
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Fractal Characterization of Low-Correlation Signals in AI-Generated Image Detection
Xie, Wenwei
Yin, Jie
Ma, Lu
Zhang, Xuansong
Zhang, Wenjing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence
AI-generated imagery has reached near-photorealistic fidelity, yet this technology poses significant threats to information security and societal trust. Existing deepfake detection methods often exhibit limited robustness in open-world scenarios. To address this limitation, this paper investigates intrinsic discrepancies between synthetic and authentic images from a signal-level perspective. Our analysis reveals that low-correlation signals serve as distinctive markers for differentiating AI-generated imagery from real photographs. Building on this insight, we introduce a novel method for quantifying these signals based on fractal theory. By analyzing the fractal characteristics of low-correlation signals, our method effectively captures the subtle statistical anomalies inherent to the synthesis process. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the method's robustness and superior detection performance. This work emphasizes the need to shift research focus to a new signal-level direction for deepfake detection. Theoretically, this proposed approach is not limited to face image identification but can be applied to all AI-generated image detection tasks. This study provides a new research direction for deepfake detection.
title Fractal Characterization of Low-Correlation Signals in AI-Generated Image Detection
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17268