Meta Stable Signature

Stable Signature: A new method for watermarking images created by open source generative AI 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Research Stable Signature: A new method for watermarking images created by open source generative AI 

 October 6, 2023 • 6 minute read AI-powered image generation is booming and for good reason: It’s fun, entertaining, and easy to use. While these models enable new creative possibilities, they may raise concerns about potential misuse from bad actors who may intentionally generate images to deceive people. Even images created in good fun could still go viral and potentially mislead people. For example, earlier this year, images appearing to show Pope Francis wearing a flashy white puffy jacket went viral. The images weren’t actual photographs , but plenty of people were fooled, since there weren’t any clear indicators to distinguish that the content was created by generative AI.

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 At FAIR, we’re excited about driving continued exploratory research in generative AI, but we also want to make sure we do so in a manner that prioritizes safety and responsibility. Today, together with Inria , we are excited to share a research paper and code that details Stable Signature, an invisible watermarking technique we created to distinguish when an image is created by an open source generative AI model. Invisible watermarking incorporates information into digital content. The watermark is invisible to the naked eye but can be detected by algorithms—even if people edit the images. While there have been other lines of research around watermarking, many existing methods create the watermark after an image is generated.

 More than 11 billion images have been created using models from three open source repositories, according to Everypixel Journal . In this case, invisible watermarks can be removed simply by deleting the line that generates the watermark. 

 
 While the fact that these safeguards exist is a start, this simple tactic shows there’s plenty of potential for this feature to be exploited. The work we’re sharing today is a solution for adding watermarks to images that come from open source generative AI models. We’re exploring how this research could potentially be used in our models. In keeping with our approach to open science, we want to share this research with the AI community in the hope of advancing the work being done in this space.

 How the Stable Signature method works

 
 Stable Signature closes the potential for removing the watermark by rooting it in the model with a watermark that can trace back to where the image was created.

 Let’s take a look at how this process works with the belo

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