Users on social media have found a controversial use case for Google’s new Gemini AI mannequin: eradicating watermarks from photographs, together with from photographs printed by Getty Images and different well-known inventory media outfits.
Last week, Google expanded entry to its Gemini 2.0 Flash mannequin’s picture technology function, which lets the mannequin natively generate and edit picture content material. It’s a strong functionality, by all accounts. But it additionally seems to have few guardrails. Gemini 2.0 Flash will uncomplainingly create photographs depicting celebrities and copyrighted characters, and — as alluded to earlier — take away watermarks from present images.
New talent unlocked: Gemini 2 Flash mannequin is admittedly superior at eradicating watermarks in photographs! pic.twitter.com/6QIk0FlfCv
— Deedy (@deedydas) March 15, 2025
As a number of X and Reddit customers famous, Gemini 2.0 Flash received’t simply take away watermarks, however try and fill in any gaps created by a watermark’s deletion. Other AI-powered instruments do that, too, however Gemini 2.0 Flash appears to be exceptionally expert at it — and free to make use of.
Gemini 2.0 Flash, obtainable in Google’s AI studio, is wonderful at modifying photographs with easy textual content prompts.
It can also take away watermarks from photographs (and places its personal refined watermark in as an alternative 🤣) pic.twitter.com/ZnHTQJsT1Z
— Tanay Jaipuria (@tanayj) March 16, 2025
To be clear, Gemini 2.0 Flash’s picture technology function is labeled as “experimental” and “not for manufacturing use” in the meanwhile, and is just obtainable in Google’s developer-facing instruments like AI Studio. The mannequin additionally isn’t an ideal watermark remover. Gemini 2.0 Flash seems to wrestle with sure semi-transparent watermarks and watermarks that canvas massive parts of photographs.
Still, some copyright holders will certainly take challenge with Gemini 2.0 Flash’s lack of utilization restrictions. Models together with Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet and OpenAI’s GPT-4o explicitly refuse to take away watermarks; Claude calls eradicating a watermark from a picture “unethical and doubtlessly unlawful.”
Removing a watermark with out the unique proprietor’s consent is taken into account unlawful underneath U.S. copyright regulation (based on regulation companies like this one) exterior of uncommon exceptions.
Google didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched exterior of regular enterprise hours.
