Spotting the Synthetic: Vision Transformers vs Diffusion-Based Image Generation

Riera, Brian (2025) Spotting the Synthetic: Vision Transformers vs Diffusion-Based Image Generation. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

As AI-generated images become more realistic and widespread particularly those produced by diffusion models like DALL·E 3 and MidJourney, there is an increasing need for effective detection methods. This study investigates the potential of Vision Transformers (ViTs) to distinguish between real and diffusion-generated images, addressing a gap in current research that has largely focused on GAN-based detection. Using the SuSy dataset, which contains 25,561 images, a ViT model was fine-tuned for binary classification. A ResNet-50 model was also trained as a CNN baseline for comparison. The ViT achieved strong performance with an accuracy of 96.2%, F1-score of 91.6%, and an AUC of 0.9898, demonstrating that transformer-based models are competitive even in limited data scenarios. While ResNet-50 slightly outperformed the ViT across most metrics, the results support the viability of ViTs in synthetic image detection and highlight their potential for future applications as generative models continue to evolve.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:	Name Email Basilio, Jorge UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology > Methods of research. Technique. Experimental biology > Data processing. Bioinformatics > Artificial intelligence Q Science > Q Science (General) > Self-organizing systems. Conscious automata > Artificial intelligence Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology > Methods of research. Technique. Experimental biology > Data processing. Bioinformatics > Artificial intelligence > Computer vision Q Science > Q Science (General) > Self-organizing systems. Conscious automata > Artificial intelligence > Computer vision
Divisions:	School of Computing > Master of Science in Data Analytics
Depositing User:	Ciara O'Brien
Date Deposited:	03 Jul 2026 09:45
Last Modified:	03 Jul 2026 09:45
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/9454

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