Ensemble-Based Deepfake Detection using State-of-the-Art Models with Robust Cross-Dataset Generalisation

TL;DR

This paper presents an ensemble approach combining state-of-the-art models to improve deepfake detection's robustness and generalization across diverse, out-of-distribution datasets, addressing real-world deployment challenges.

Contribution

It introduces an asymmetric ensembling method that enhances cross-dataset generalization in deepfake detection, outperforming individual models in diverse scenarios.

Findings

Ensemble predictions are more stable across datasets.

No single model consistently outperforms others.

Ensembling improves robustness in real-world conditions.

Abstract

Machine learning-based Deepfake detection models have achieved impressive results on benchmark datasets, yet their performance often deteriorates significantly when evaluated on out-of-distribution data. In this work, we investigate an ensemble-based approach for improving the generalization of deepfake detection systems across diverse datasets. Building on a recent open-source benchmark, we combine prediction probabilities from several state-of-the-art asymmetric models proposed at top venues. Our experiments span two distinct out-of-domain datasets and demonstrate that no single model consistently outperforms others across settings. In contrast, ensemble-based predictions provide more stable and reliable performance in all scenarios. Our results suggest that asymmetric ensembling offers a robust and scalable solution for real-world deepfake detection where prior knowledge of forgery type or quality is often unavailable.