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Can Generative Models Actually Forge Realistic Identity Documents?

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2026-01-06 v1

Abstract

Generative image models have recently shown significant progress in image realism, leading to public concerns about their potential misuse for document forgery. This paper explores whether contemporary open-source and publicly accessible diffusion-based generative models can produce identity document forgeries that could realistically bypass human or automated verification systems. We evaluate text-to-image and image-to-image generation pipelines using multiple publicly available generative model families, including Stable Diffusion, Qwen, Flux, Nano-Banana, and others. The findings indicate that while current generative models can simulate surface-level document aesthetics, they fail to reproduce structural and forensic authenticity. Consequently, the risk of generative identity document deepfakes achieving forensic-level authenticity may be overestimated, underscoring the value of collaboration between machine learning practitioners and document-forensics experts in realistic risk assessment.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.00829,
  title  = {Can Generative Models Actually Forge Realistic Identity Documents?},
  author = {Alexander Vinogradov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.00829},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

11 pages, 16 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:48:47.074Z