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Face Swap AI

How FaceSwapAI Works

Last updated: 2026-05-07 · End-to-end technical overview

Overview

FaceSwapAI runs a multi-stage AI pipeline that takes an uploaded image or video, performs face-swap or related transformations, and returns a clean output with C2PA Content Credentials embedded. The full path completes in 5–30 seconds for typical inputs.

The Pipeline (in order)

  1. Upload & validation. File received over TLS 1.2+. Format check, virus scan, content policy classification (block CSAM, NCII, public-figure misuse).
  2. Face detection. RetinaFace (arXiv:1905.00641) locates faces and bounding boxes.
  3. Landmark extraction. HRNet (arXiv:1902.09212) extracts 68+ facial keypoints for alignment.
  4. Identity embedding. ArcFace (arXiv:1801.07698) or AdaFace (arXiv:2204.00964) computes a 512-dim identity vector.
  5. Generation. A diffusion-based generator (Wan 2.2 family) renders the swap, guided by source identity and target pose/lighting.
  6. Post-processing. Optional Wav2Lip refinement on lip region for talking-head workloads. Color correction. Optional super-resolution.
  7. Quality gate. Automated identity similarity scoring (cosine ≥ 0.7), artifact detection, content safety re-classification.
  8. Encoding & signing. H.264/H.265 MP4 or JPEG/PNG with embedded C2PA Content Credentials manifest declaring AI generation.
  9. Delivery. Result returned to client; original upload auto-deleted within 24 hours.

Identity Preservation

Identity preservation is the key quality metric. FaceSwapAI averages 0.79 ArcFace cosine similarity vs source on standard portraits, declining to 0.62 on extreme angles (\>45°). See our research methodology for benchmark details.

Privacy & Compliance

Every step of the pipeline runs within FaceSwapAI's SOC-2-aligned infrastructure. Uploads are encrypted at rest and in transit. No model training is performed on user uploads. See our trust page for full compliance posture (BIPA, GDPR, CCPA, EU AI Act Article 50, C2PA, TAKE IT DOWN Act 2025).

Hardware

Production inference runs on NVIDIA H100 80GB GPUs (and H200 for batch tiers). Free-tier interactive workloads typically complete in 5–15 seconds; the most complex video swaps complete in 25–45 seconds end-to-end.

What We Don't Do

  • No training on user uploads — ever.
  • No NCII generation — blocked at multiple pipeline stages.
  • No public-figure deepfakes during election windows — block list enforced.
  • No biometric data retention beyond the active processing window.

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