Google's Gemini AI is great at removing watermarks, maybe too great

A hot potato: Google recently expanded availability of its Gemini 2.0 Flash model to more developers, and it didn't take long for folks to unearth its new capabilities. One of its abilities to remove watermarks from stock images is so impressive that Google might have to nerf it in order to avoid future legal action. Social media is abuzz with Gemini 2.0 Flash's ability to remove watermarks from licensed work, a practice that is deemed illegal by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Such images litter stock photography services although in many cases, an identifying logo, text, or pattern is used to discourage unauthorized use. If you want the rights to an unaltered image without any watermarks, you will need to pay for a license. Watermarks have been around in the digital imaging space for decades, and people have been erasing them for years. Originally, this was something that was done manually using an image editing program and could take a lot of time. Eventually, programs and o ... Read full article.