Watermark Remover.io is a new free tool powered by AI that allows you to remove watermarks in a few moments from copyrighted images found on banks such as Shutterstock, Adobe Stock or Getty Images .
Since the launch of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s revolutionary conversational AI, all eyes have been on artificial intelligence and the potential exploitations and consequences of this technology, which Microsoft says will be as important as the PC and the Internet.
Moreover, and according to the specialized company Translated, AI will exceed that of humans by 2028. To face these new challenges, France has already put in place dedicated structures. This is particularly the case of the CNIL, which has just announced the beginnings of a new artificial intelligence service, to provide a legal framework for the use of this technology.
Watermark Remover.io, the new image bank nightmare
And the needs in this area are already being felt. Watermark Remove.io, a brand new AI-powered free tool, is proof of that. To sum up, this tool, offered by Pixelbin.io, removes watermarks from images in seconds offered on paid banks such as Shutterstock, Adobe Stock or Getty Images.
Launched in December 2022, Watermark Remover.io is already arousing numerous outcry from rights holders and organizations in charge of copyright protection. Of course, there are already solutions for removing watermarks, especially in Adobe Photoshop. However, these tools are often accessible on paid software and require some experience to obtain a convincing result.
Impressive results in seconds
Conversely, Watermark Remover.io is completely free and available on the web and via an Android app. And icing on the cake, the process is within everyone’s reach since it is done in a single click. Ironically, Shutterstock and Adobe Stock have recently introduced AI-shaped images. However, we suspect that they are less enthusiastic about the idea of seeing an AI used to steal their assets.
Especially when she does it so effectively. For the occasion, we carried out some tests on images from the image bank used by the editorial staff, namely 123RF. Admittedly, the result is quite impressive. Watermark removal takes seconds. Nevertheless, some artifacts remain.
As our colleagues from The Verge report, results vary however depending on the watermarks used by the platforms. Getty Images offers the most resistance to Watermark Remover.io. Note that the image bank has a very different policy towards AI than that adopted by Shutterstock and Adobe, since any AI-generated content is strictly prohibitedparticularly due to copyright concerns.
A legal loophole that benefits Watermark Remover.io
But what about the legality of such a tool? If the deletion of a watermark on a protected image without the consent of the right holder is totally illegal in France as in the USA, using a tool to circumvent these restrictions like Watermark Remover.io is not. Moreover, PixelBin takes advantage of this legal void, as evidenced by this statement:
“Users are free to remove watermarks as they wish, but we suggest that they do not do this for commercial purposes, or remove watermarks from copyrighted images. Users of this application are solely responsible for any complaints, damages, costs, expenses, lawsuits etc. brought by a third party in connection with the use of the images resulting from the removal of the watermarks”.
You will agree, with Watermark Remover.io, we are in front a new example of how AI can be used to harm to image banks, but on a larger scale, to many professionals such as photographers.