People are using Google’s new AI model to remove watermarks from images

Customers on social media have found a controversial use case for Google’s new Gemini AI mannequin: eradicating watermarks from pictures, together with from pictures revealed by Getty Pictures and different well-known inventory media outfits.

Final week, Google expanded entry to its Gemini 2.0 Flash mannequin’s picture technology characteristic, which lets the mannequin natively generate and edit picture content material. It’s a robust functionality, by all accounts. However it additionally seems to have few guardrails. Gemini 2.0 Flash will uncomplainingly create pictures depicting celebrities and copyrighted characters, and — as alluded to earlier — take away watermarks from current images.

New ability unlocked: Gemini 2 Flash mannequin is actually superior at eradicating watermarks in pictures! 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. Different 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, out there in Google’s AI studio, is wonderful at modifying pictures with easy textual content prompts.

It can also take away watermarks from pictures (and places its personal delicate 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 characteristic is labeled as “experimental” and “not for manufacturing use” in the intervening time, and is just out there in Google’s developer-facing instruments like AI Studio. The mannequin additionally isn’t an ideal watermark remover. Gemini 2.0 Flash seems to battle with sure semi-transparent watermarks and watermarks that canvas giant parts of pictures.

Nonetheless, some copyright holders will certainly take situation with Gemini 2.0 Flash’s lack of utilization restrictions. Fashions 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.”

Eradicating a watermark with out the unique proprietor’s consent is taken into account unlawful beneath U.S. copyright regulation (in accordance with regulation corporations like this one) exterior of uncommon exceptions.

Google didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched exterior of regular enterprise hours.