People are using Google’s new AI model to remove watermarks from images
Users on social media have discovered a controversial use case for the new Gemini AI model from Google: Removing water brands from images, including from images published by Getty Images and other well-known stock media outfits.
Last week, Google extended access to the Image Generation function of Gemini 2.0, with which the model can generate and edit the content of the image native. It is one powerful assetsby all accounts. But it also seems to have few crash barriers. Gemini 2.0 Flash will not make approving images Show celebrities And Copyright charactersAnd – as referred to earlier – remove watermarks from existing photos.
New skills unlock: Gemini 2 Flash model is really great in removing water brands in images! pic.twitter.com/6qik0flfcv
– Doy (@deedydas) March 15, 2025
As several x and Reddit Users noted that Gemini 2.0 Flash not only removes watermarks, but tries to enter all the gaps made by the removal of a watermark. Other AI-driven tools do this too, but Gemini 2.0 Flash seems to be exceptionally competent in being free.
Gemini 2.0 Flash, available in the AI studio of Google, is great when editing images with simple text prompts.
It can also remove water brands from images (and instead places its own subtle watermark in 🤣) pic.twitter.com/znhtqjst1z
– Tanay Jaipuria (@tanayj) March 16, 2025
For the sake of clarity, the image generation of Gemini 2.0 Flash is currently referred to as “experimental” and “not for production use” and is only available in Google’s developer -oriented tools such as AI Studio. The model is also not a perfect watermark remover. Gemini 2.0 Flash seems to struggle with certain semi-transparent water brands and water brands that canvas large parts of images.
However, some copyright holders will certainly have problems with the lack of usage restrictions from Gemini 2.0 Flash. Models including the Claude 3.7 Sonnet from Anthropic and the GPT-4O of OpenAI explicitly refuse to remove water brands; Claude mentions the removal of a watermark from an image ‘unethical and potentially illegal’.
The removal of a watermark without the consent of the original owner is considered illegal according to the US copyright legislation (according to Law firms like this)) Out of rare exceptions.
Google did not respond immediately to a request for comments sent outside of normal office hours.
