and-mill/Awesome-GenAI-Watermarking

A curated list of watermarking schemes for generative AI models

145

100 commits

updated Aug 17, 2026

See the code

README

Awesome-GenAI-Watermarking

This repo include papers about the watermarking methods for generative AI models. Watermarking is a method for embedding an imperceptible, but recoverable signal (payload) into a digital asset (cover). With generative models, there are approaches which train the model to produce the watermark in every output and this behaviour should be hard to disable. We refer to this as "Fingerprint Rooting" or just "Rooting".

1. Introduction


1.1 Watermarking Goals

  • Deep fake detection (Is a digit asset AI-generated?)
  • Deep fake attribution (By whom (which user of A model API) has it been generated?)
  • Enhanced Model Fingerprinting (By which model has it been generated?)
  • IP protection
    • Protect valuable models
    • Protect valuable training data (e.g. style)
  • Tamper Localization (Where has an asset been doctored?)
    • see "EditGuard: Versatile Image Watermarking for Tamper Localization and Copyright Protection"

1.2 Differences Between Watermarking Schemes

1.3 What Information is Transported by the Watermark?

  • Generated asset yes/no
  • Identity of watermarking party
  • Identifier of the asset in provenance database (can replace perceptual hashing, mentioned in "RoSteALS: Robust Steganography using Autoencoder Latent Space")

1.4 Attacks on Watermarking

  • Watermark removal
    • Removing a watermark from a given digital asset
    • Attacker goals
    • Robustness property
      • Removing the watermark should decrease the asset quality. This negates the usefulness of the asset for malicious goals
  • Watermark forgery (referred to as spoofing by Robustness of AI-Image Detectors: Fundamental Limits and Practical Attacks)
  • Model purification
    • A watermarked model which should only produce watermarked output, even if distributed to untrusted parties (i.e. Stable Signature), is "purified" in a way that removes the watermarks in its output.
    • Attacker goals
      • Obtain a model which does not produced watermarked content
    • Robustness property
      • Removing the watermark functionality of the model should decrease the output quality. This negates the usefulness of the asset for malicious goals

Threat models

  • Whitebox
    • Attacker has full access to a generative AI model
  • ... TODO

Difference between Watermarking and Cryptography

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Watermarking is not CryptographyIWDW2006-Author webpage- TODO

2. Image Domain


2.1 Papers on Watermarking Diffusion Models (outputs) (Image)

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Artificial Fingerprinting for Generative Models: Rooting Deepfake Attribution in Training DataICCV2021-Arxiv- Rooting GAN models. By embedding watermark into training data to exploit
transferability
PTW: Pivotal Tuning Watermarking for Pre-Trained Image GeneratorsUSENIX2023GithubArxiv- Focus on GANs, but latent diffusion models should work too
The Stable Signature: Rooting Watermarks in Latent Diffusion ModelsICCV2023GithubArxiv- Meta/FAIR author
Finetune a model in accordance with encoder/decoder to reveal a secret message in its output.
- robust to watermark removal and model purification (quality deterioration)
- Static watermarking
Stable Signature is Unstable: Removing Image Watermark from Diffusion Models-2024-Arxiv- Stable Signature model purification via finetuning
Flexible and Secure Watermarking for Latent Diffusion ModelACM MM2023--- References Stable Signature and improves by adding flexibility by allowing for embedding different messages w.o. finetuning
A Training-Free Plug-and-Play Watermark Framework for Stable Diffusion-2024-Arxiv- TODO
WOUAF: Weight Modulation for User Attribution and Fingerprinting in Text-to-Image Diffusion ModelsNeurIPS Workshop on Diffusion Models2023-Arxiv- TODO
RoSteALS: Robust Steganography using Autoencoder Latent SpaceCVPR Workshops (CVPRW)2023GithubArxiv- Post-hoc watermarking
DiffusionShield: A Watermark for Copyright Protection against Generative Diffusion ModelsNeurIPS Workshop on Diffusion Models2023-Arxiv- Not about Rooting
-Data Poisoning protected images which will reproduce if used as training data in diffusion model
A Recipe for Watermarking Diffusion Models-2023GithubArxiv- Framework for 1. small unconditional/class-conditional DMs via training from scratch on watermarked data and 2. text-to-image DMs via finetuning a backdoor-trigger-output
- Lots of references on watermarking discriminative models
- Static watermarking
Intellectual Property Protection of Diffusion Models via the Watermark Diffusion Process-2023-Arxiv- Threat model: Check ownership of model by having access to the model
- Hard to read
- Explains difference between static and dynamic watermarking with many references
Securing Deep Generative Models with Universal Adversarial Signature-2023GithubArxiv- 1. Find optimal signature for an image individually.
- 2. Finetune a GenAI model on these images.
Watermarking Diffusion Model-2023-Arxiv- Finetuning a backdoor-trigger-output
- Static watermarking
- CISPA authors
Catch You Everything Everywhere: Guarding Textual Inversion via Concept Watermarking-2023-Arxiv- Guards concepts obtained through textual inversion (An Image is Worth One Word: Personalizing Text-to-Image Generation using Textual Inversion) from abuse by allowing to identify concepts in generated images.
- Very interesting references on company and government stances on watermarking
Generative Watermarking Against Unauthorized Subject-Driven Image Synthesis-2023-Arxiv- Different from Glaze in that style synthesis from protected source images is not prevented, but recognizable via watermarks
- CISPA authors
Towards the Vulnerability of Watermarking Artificial Intelligence Generated Content-2024-OpenReview- Watermark removal and forgery in one method, using GAN
- References two types of watermarking: 1. Learn/finetune model to produce watermarked output and 2. post-hoc watermarking after the fact (static vs. dynamic, see "Intellectual Property Protection of Diffusion Models via the Watermark Diffusion Process")
Robustness of AI-Image Detectors: Fundamental Limits and Practical AttacksICLR2024GithubArxiv- They show that low budget watermarking methods are beaten by diffusion purification and propose an attack that can even remove high budget watermarks by model substitution
A Transfer Attack to Image Watermarks-2024-Arxiv- Watermark removal by "no-box"-attack on detectors (no access to detector-API, instead training classifier to distinguish watermarked and vanilla images)
EditGuard: Versatile Image Watermarking for Tamper Localization and Copyright ProtectionCVPR2024GithubArxiv- Post-hoc watermarking with tamper localization
Latent Watermark: Inject and Detect Watermarks in Latent Diffusion Space-2024-Arxiv- Discusses 3 categories for watermarks with references: before, during, and after generation
Stable Messenger: Steganography for Message-Concealed Image Generation-2023-Arxiv- Post-hoc watermarking
- Watermark embedding during generation according to "Latent Watermark: Inject and Detect Watermarks in Latent Diffusion Space", but I think it is actually post-hoc.
Robust Watermarking Using Generative Priors Against Image Editing: From Benchmarking to AdvancesICLR2025GithubArxiv- benchmark for evaluating the robustness of watermarking methods against image editing methods and proposes a watermarking model based on SDXL-Turbo that remains robust to these editing methods

2.2 Watermarks to Guide Other Objectives

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
StegaStamp: Invisible Hyperlinks in Physical PhotographsCVPR2020GithubArxiv- Watermark in physical images that can be captured from video stream
- "Towards the Vulnerability of Watermarking Artificial Intelligence Generated Content" speculates that Deepmind SynthID works similarly to this
ChartStamp: Robust Chart Embedding for Real-World ApplicationsACM MM2022Github-- Like StegaStamp, but it introduces less clutter in flat regions in images
Unadversarial Examples: Designing Objects for Robust VisionNeurIPS2021GithubArxiv- Perturbations to make detection easier

2.3 Hardware-Assisted Watermarking

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Robust ASIC-Based Image Authentication Using Reed-Solomon LSB Watermarking-2026GithubResearchGate

2.4 Misc Papers (to be categorized...)

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
RAW: A Robust and Agile Plug-and-Play Watermark Framework for AI-Generated Images with Provable Guarantees-2024GithubArxiv- Withdrawn from arxiv
PiGW: A Plug-in Generative Watermarking Framework-2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- Withdrawn from arxiv
Benchmarking the Robustness of Image Watermarks (Wait for ICML source)ICML2024GithubArxiv- TODO
WMAdapter: Adding WaterMark Control to Latent Diffusion Models-2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- TODO
Steganalysis on Digital Watermarking: Is Your Defense Truly Impervious?-2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- TODO
Finding needles in a haystack: A Black-Box Approach to Invisible Watermark Detection-2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- TODO
ProMark: Proactive Diffusion Watermarking for Causal AttributionCVPR2024-Arxiv- TODO
Watermarking Images in Self-Supervised Latent SpacesICASSP2022GithubArxiv- TODO
Generative Autoencoders as Watermark Attackers: Analyses of Vulnerabilities and ThreatsICML Workshop DeployableGenerativeAI2023--- Attack on pixel-watermarks using LDM autoencoders
Invisible Image Watermarks Are Provably Removable Using Generative AI-2023GithubArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but removing watermarks with diffusion purification
- Evaluates stable signature and Tree-Ring Watermarks. Tree-ring is robust against their attack.
- Earlier Version of Generative Autoencoders as Watermark Attackers
WaterDiff: Perceptual Image Watermarks Via Diffusion ModelIVMSP-P2 Workshop at ICASSP2024--- TODO
Squint Hard Enough: Attacking Perceptual Hashing with Adversarial Machine LearningUSENIX2022--- Attacks on perceptual hashes
Evading Watermark based Detection of AI-Generated ContentCCS2023GithubArxiv- Evaluation of robustness of image watermarks + Adversarial sample for evasion
Diffusion Models for Adversarial PurificationICML2022GithubArxiv- Defense against adversarial pertubation, including imperceptible watermarks in images
Flow-Based Robust Watermarking with Invertible Noise Layer for Black-Box DistortionsAIII2023Github-- Like HiDDeN, just a neural watermark encoder/extractor
HiDDeN: Hiding Data With Deep NetworksECCV2018GithubArxiv- Main tool used in Stable Signature
- Contains differentiable approx. of JPEG compression
- Dynamic watermarking
Glaze: Protecting artists from style mimicry by text-to-image modelsUSENIX2023GithubArxiv- Is not about Rooting, but denying style stealing
DUAW: Data-free Universal Adversarial Watermark against Stable Diffusion Customization-2023-Arxiv- Seem similar to Glaze on first glance. Authors may have been unlucky to do parallel work
Responsible Disclosure of Generative Models Using Scalable FingerprintingICLR2022GithubArxiv- Rooting GAN models. Seems to have introduced the idea of scalably producing many models fast with large message space (TODO: check this later), similar to how Stable Signature did it later for stable diffusion.
On Attribution of Deepfakes-2020-Arxiv- They show that an image can be created that looks like it may have been generated by a targeted model. They also propose a framework how to achieve deniability for such cases.
Towards Blind Watermarking: Combining Invertible and Non-invertible MechanismsACM MM2022GithubArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about attacking post-hoc watermarking of images
- Lots of references on invertible NNs
DocDiff: Document Enhancement via Residual Diffusion ModelsACM MM2023GithubArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about post-hoc watermarking of images
- Includes classic watermark removal
Warfare:Breaking the Watermark Protection of AI-Generated Content-2023Did not look for it yetArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about attacking post-hoc watermarking
- Includes 1. watermark removal and 2. forging
Leveraging Optimization for Adaptive Attacks on Image WatermarksICML (Poster)2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about attacking post-hoc watermarking
A Somewhat Robust Image Watermark against Diffusion-based Editing Models-2023Did not look for it yetArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about post-hoc watermarking of images
- Takes watermarks literally and injects hidden images
Hey That's Mine Imperceptible Watermarks are Preserved in Diffusion Generated Outputs-2023-Arxiv- Is not about rooting a model. They show that watermarks in training data are recognizable in output and allow for intellectual property claims
Benchmarking the Robustness of Image Watermarks-2024GithubArxiv- Just a benchmark/framework for testing watermarks against
Free Fine-tuning: A Plug-and-Play Watermarking Scheme for Deep Neural NetworksACM MM2023Did not look for it yetArxiv- Is not about generative models, but discriminative models
Adversarial Attack for Robust Watermark Protection Against Inpainting-based and Blind Watermark RemoversACM MM2023Did not look for it yet-- Post-hoc watermark with enhanced robustness against inpainting
A Novel Deep Video Watermarking Framework with Enhanced Robustness to H.264/AVC CompressionACM MM2023Github-- Post-hoc watermark for videos
Practical Deep Dispersed Watermarking with Synchronization and FusionACM MM2023Did not look for it yetArxiv- Post-hoc watermark for images with enhanced robustness to transformations
Generalizable Synthetic Image Detection via Language-guided Contrastive Learning-2023GithubArxiv- Is not about rooting, but GenAI image detection
Enhancing the Robustness of Deep Learning Based Fingerprinting to Improve Deepfake AttributionACM MM-Asia2022--- Is not about rooting, but transformation-robustness strategies for watermarks
You are caught stealing my winning lottery ticket! Making a lottery ticket claim its ownershipNeurIPS2021GithubArxiv- Watermarking the sparsity mask of winning lottery tickets
Self-Consuming Generative Models Go MADICLR (Poster)2024-Arxiv- Contains a reason why GenAI detection is important: Removing generated content from training sets

3. Audio Domain


3.1 Papers on Watermarking (Audio)

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Proactive Detection of Voice Cloning with Localized Watermarking-2024GithubArxiv- Meta/FAIR author
MaskMark: Robust Neural Watermarking for Real and Synthetic SpeechICASSP2024Audio samplesIEEExplore-
Collaborative Watermarking for Adversarial Speech SynthesisICASSP2024-Arxiv- Meta/FAIR author
HiFi-GAN: Generative Adversarial Networks for Efficient and High Fidelity Speech SynthesisNeurIPS2020GithubArxiv- Very good GAN for Speech synthesis (TODO: Is this SotA?)
- Can do live synthesis even on CPU
- Quality is on par with autoregressive models
Spoofed Training Data for Speech Spoofing Countermeasure Can Be Efficiently Created Using Neural VocodersICASSP2023-Arxiv- Include vocoder generated training data to enhance detection capabilities for countermeasures
AudioQR: Deep Neural Audio Watermarks For QR CodeIJCAI2023Github-- Imperceptible QR-codes in audio for the visually impaired
Detecting Voice Cloning Attacks via Timbre WatermarkingNDSS2024GithubArxiv- Entangled with voice timbre/Voice cloning attack detection
WMCodec: End-to-End Neural Speech Codec with Deep Watermarking for Authenticity VerificationICASSP2025GithubArxiv- Speech codec with integrated watermarking functionality
WavMark: Watermarking for Audio Generation-2023GithubArxiv-
Speech Watermarking with Discrete Intermediate RepresentationsAAAI2025-Arxiv- Watermark embedded on token level
AudioMarkNet: Audio Watermarking for Deepfake Speech DetectionUsenix Security2025ZenodoUsenix- Speech Watermark for deepfake speech detection
GROOT: Generating Robust Watermark for Diffusion-Model-Based Audio SynthesisMM2024-Arxiv- Fine-tuning the generative model to enable endogenous watermarking capability
Poisoning The Diffusion: A Simple and Robust Watermarking Method for Audio GenerationICASSP2025--- Watermarking difusion models in training stage

3.2 Audio Synthesis Datasets

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
ASVspoof 2021 Challenge-2021GithubArxiv- Challenge for audio spoofing detection
ADD 2022: the first Audio Deep Synthesis Detection ChallengeICASSP2022GithubArxiv- Official Chinese challenge website (NO HTTPS!)

3.3 News on Audio Watermarking

4. Text Domain

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Watermarks in the Sand: Impossibility of Strong Watermarking for Generative Models-2023GithubArxiv-
Adversarial Watermarking Transformer: Towards Tracing Text Provenance with Data HidingS&P2021GithubArxiv-
Resilient Watermarking for LLM-Generated Codes-2024Github AppendixArxiv- Code
Provably Robust Multi-bit Watermarking for AI-generated Text via Error Correction Code-2024-Arxiv- Error correction
Provable Robust Watermarking for AI-Generated TextICLR2024GithubArxiv- Apparently good and robust LLM Watermarking
Towards Codable Watermarking for Injecting Multi-Bits Information to LLMsICLR2024GithubArxiv- TODO
Is Multilingual LLM Watermarking Truly Multilingual? Scaling Robustness to 100+ Languages via Back-TranslationUnder review2025GithubArxiv- Robustness of multilingual LLM watermarking via back-translation (STEAM)
Watermarking Degrades Alignment in Language Models: Analysis and MitigationTMLR2026-Arxiv- Watermarking-alignment interaction; Alignment Resampling mitigation

5. Related News


6. Generative Model stealing Papers


PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Stealing Machine Learning Models: Attacks and Countermeasures for Generative Adversarial NetworksACSAC2021-Arxiv-
Model Extraction Attack and Defense on Deep Generative ModelsJournal of Physics2022---
Model Extraction and Defenses on Generative Adversarial Networks-2021-Arxiv-

7. Survey Papers


PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
A Comprehensive Survey on Robust Image WatermarkingNeurocomputing2022-Arxiv- Not about model rooting
A Systematic Review on Model Watermarking for Neural NetworksFrontiers in Big Data2021-Arxiv- Not about model rooting
A Comprehensive Review on Digital Image Watermarking-2022-Arxiv- Not about model rooting
Copyright Protection in Generative AI: A Technical Perspective-2024-Arxiv- About IP protection in GenAI in general
Security and Privacy on Generative Data in AIGC: A Survey-2023-Arxiv- About security aspects in GenAI in general
Detecting Multimedia Generated by Large AI Models: A Survey-2024-Arxiv- About detecting GenAI in general
Audio Deepfake Detection: A Survey-2023-Arxiv- Contains overview of spoofed audio datasets, spoofing methods, and detection methods
- Very good servey

7.1 A Systematic Review on Model Watermarking for Neural Networks

Summarization of the systematization given in this review.

Taxonomy

  • Embedding method
    • Watermark in model parameters
    • Trigger-Watermark-Backdoor
  • Verification access
    • Whitebox (access model parameters)
    • Blackbox (access via API)
  • Capacity
    • Zero-bit (is watermark exists)
    • Multi-Bit (watermark contains arbitrary info)
  • Authentication
    • Model is watermarked
    • By whom model is watermarked
  • Uniqueness
    • All model instances carry same watermark
    • Different model instances carry different watermarks

Requirements & Security Goals

GoalExplainationMotivation
FidelityHigh prediction quality on original tasksmodel performance shouldn't significantly degrade
RobustnessWatermark should resist removalprotects against copyright evasion
ReliabilityMinimal false negativesensures rightful ownership is recognized
IntegrityMinimal false positivesprevents wrongful accusations of theft
CapacitySupports large information amountsallows comprehensive watermarks
SecrecyWatermark must be secret and undetectableprevents unauthorized detection
EfficiencyFast watermark insertion and verificationavoids computational burden
GeneralityIndependent of datasets and ML algorithmsfacilitates widespread application

Threat Model

  • Attacker Knowledge:
    1. existence of the watermark
    2. model and its parameters
    3. watermarking scheme used
    4. (parts of) the training data
    5. (parts of) the watermark itself or the trigger dataset
  • Attacker Capabilities (irrelevant)
    • passive (eavesdropping)
    • active (interaction)
  • Attacker Objectives
    • For what is model being used by the attacker? (rather unspecific)

Attacks against Watermarking

  • Watermark Detection (weakest)
  • Watermark Suppression, i.e. avoid watermark verification
    • e.g. dissimulating any presence of a watermark in the model parameters and behavior
    • e.g. suppressing the reactions of the model to the original watermark trigger
  • Watermark Forging
    1. Recovering the legitimate owner’s watermark and claiming ownership (if there is no binding between the watermark and the owner)
    2. Adding a new watermark that creates ambiguity concerning ownership
    3. Identifying a fake watermark within the model that coincidentally acts like a real watermark but actually is not
  • Watermark Overwriting
    1. Adding Watermark to model with deactivating old one (strong)
    2. Adding Watermark to model without deactivating old one (weak)
  • Watermark Removal
    1. depends on the presence of a watermark
    2. depends on the underlying watermarking scheme
    3. depends on availability of additional data, e.g. for fine-tuning or retraining
      • Methods
        • Fine-Tuning
        • Pruning
        • Quantization
        • Distillation
        • Transfer-Learning
        • Backdoor Removal

Categorizing Watermarking Methods

  • Embedding Watermarks into Model Parameters
    • Adding patterns into model which can be verified locally
  • Using Pre-Defined Inputs as Triggers
    • Adding behaviour triggered by special input
  • Using Model Fingerprints to Identify Potentially Stolen Instances
    • No additional action needed, just recognizing a model based on some criteria

8 Further Links

Practical tools for text watermark checks

generative-ai
watermark
watermarking

Contributors

and-mill

96 commits

dapurv5

1 commits

Framartin

1 commits

mitdralla

1 commits

and-mill/Awesome-GenAI-Watermarking

A curated list of watermarking schemes for generative AI models

145

100 commits

updated Aug 17, 2026

See the code

README

Awesome-GenAI-Watermarking

This repo include papers about the watermarking methods for generative AI models. Watermarking is a method for embedding an imperceptible, but recoverable signal (payload) into a digital asset (cover). With generative models, there are approaches which train the model to produce the watermark in every output and this behaviour should be hard to disable. We refer to this as "Fingerprint Rooting" or just "Rooting".

1. Introduction


1.1 Watermarking Goals

  • Deep fake detection (Is a digit asset AI-generated?)
  • Deep fake attribution (By whom (which user of A model API) has it been generated?)
  • Enhanced Model Fingerprinting (By which model has it been generated?)
  • IP protection
    • Protect valuable models
    • Protect valuable training data (e.g. style)
  • Tamper Localization (Where has an asset been doctored?)
    • see "EditGuard: Versatile Image Watermarking for Tamper Localization and Copyright Protection"

1.2 Differences Between Watermarking Schemes

1.3 What Information is Transported by the Watermark?

  • Generated asset yes/no
  • Identity of watermarking party
  • Identifier of the asset in provenance database (can replace perceptual hashing, mentioned in "RoSteALS: Robust Steganography using Autoencoder Latent Space")

1.4 Attacks on Watermarking

  • Watermark removal
    • Removing a watermark from a given digital asset
    • Attacker goals
    • Robustness property
      • Removing the watermark should decrease the asset quality. This negates the usefulness of the asset for malicious goals
  • Watermark forgery (referred to as spoofing by Robustness of AI-Image Detectors: Fundamental Limits and Practical Attacks)
  • Model purification
    • A watermarked model which should only produce watermarked output, even if distributed to untrusted parties (i.e. Stable Signature), is "purified" in a way that removes the watermarks in its output.
    • Attacker goals
      • Obtain a model which does not produced watermarked content
    • Robustness property
      • Removing the watermark functionality of the model should decrease the output quality. This negates the usefulness of the asset for malicious goals

Threat models

  • Whitebox
    • Attacker has full access to a generative AI model
  • ... TODO

Difference between Watermarking and Cryptography

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Watermarking is not CryptographyIWDW2006-Author webpage- TODO

2. Image Domain


2.1 Papers on Watermarking Diffusion Models (outputs) (Image)

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Artificial Fingerprinting for Generative Models: Rooting Deepfake Attribution in Training DataICCV2021-Arxiv- Rooting GAN models. By embedding watermark into training data to exploit
transferability
PTW: Pivotal Tuning Watermarking for Pre-Trained Image GeneratorsUSENIX2023GithubArxiv- Focus on GANs, but latent diffusion models should work too
The Stable Signature: Rooting Watermarks in Latent Diffusion ModelsICCV2023GithubArxiv- Meta/FAIR author
Finetune a model in accordance with encoder/decoder to reveal a secret message in its output.
- robust to watermark removal and model purification (quality deterioration)
- Static watermarking
Stable Signature is Unstable: Removing Image Watermark from Diffusion Models-2024-Arxiv- Stable Signature model purification via finetuning
Flexible and Secure Watermarking for Latent Diffusion ModelACM MM2023--- References Stable Signature and improves by adding flexibility by allowing for embedding different messages w.o. finetuning
A Training-Free Plug-and-Play Watermark Framework for Stable Diffusion-2024-Arxiv- TODO
WOUAF: Weight Modulation for User Attribution and Fingerprinting in Text-to-Image Diffusion ModelsNeurIPS Workshop on Diffusion Models2023-Arxiv- TODO
RoSteALS: Robust Steganography using Autoencoder Latent SpaceCVPR Workshops (CVPRW)2023GithubArxiv- Post-hoc watermarking
DiffusionShield: A Watermark for Copyright Protection against Generative Diffusion ModelsNeurIPS Workshop on Diffusion Models2023-Arxiv- Not about Rooting
-Data Poisoning protected images which will reproduce if used as training data in diffusion model
A Recipe for Watermarking Diffusion Models-2023GithubArxiv- Framework for 1. small unconditional/class-conditional DMs via training from scratch on watermarked data and 2. text-to-image DMs via finetuning a backdoor-trigger-output
- Lots of references on watermarking discriminative models
- Static watermarking
Intellectual Property Protection of Diffusion Models via the Watermark Diffusion Process-2023-Arxiv- Threat model: Check ownership of model by having access to the model
- Hard to read
- Explains difference between static and dynamic watermarking with many references
Securing Deep Generative Models with Universal Adversarial Signature-2023GithubArxiv- 1. Find optimal signature for an image individually.
- 2. Finetune a GenAI model on these images.
Watermarking Diffusion Model-2023-Arxiv- Finetuning a backdoor-trigger-output
- Static watermarking
- CISPA authors
Catch You Everything Everywhere: Guarding Textual Inversion via Concept Watermarking-2023-Arxiv- Guards concepts obtained through textual inversion (An Image is Worth One Word: Personalizing Text-to-Image Generation using Textual Inversion) from abuse by allowing to identify concepts in generated images.
- Very interesting references on company and government stances on watermarking
Generative Watermarking Against Unauthorized Subject-Driven Image Synthesis-2023-Arxiv- Different from Glaze in that style synthesis from protected source images is not prevented, but recognizable via watermarks
- CISPA authors
Towards the Vulnerability of Watermarking Artificial Intelligence Generated Content-2024-OpenReview- Watermark removal and forgery in one method, using GAN
- References two types of watermarking: 1. Learn/finetune model to produce watermarked output and 2. post-hoc watermarking after the fact (static vs. dynamic, see "Intellectual Property Protection of Diffusion Models via the Watermark Diffusion Process")
Robustness of AI-Image Detectors: Fundamental Limits and Practical AttacksICLR2024GithubArxiv- They show that low budget watermarking methods are beaten by diffusion purification and propose an attack that can even remove high budget watermarks by model substitution
A Transfer Attack to Image Watermarks-2024-Arxiv- Watermark removal by "no-box"-attack on detectors (no access to detector-API, instead training classifier to distinguish watermarked and vanilla images)
EditGuard: Versatile Image Watermarking for Tamper Localization and Copyright ProtectionCVPR2024GithubArxiv- Post-hoc watermarking with tamper localization
Latent Watermark: Inject and Detect Watermarks in Latent Diffusion Space-2024-Arxiv- Discusses 3 categories for watermarks with references: before, during, and after generation
Stable Messenger: Steganography for Message-Concealed Image Generation-2023-Arxiv- Post-hoc watermarking
- Watermark embedding during generation according to "Latent Watermark: Inject and Detect Watermarks in Latent Diffusion Space", but I think it is actually post-hoc.
Robust Watermarking Using Generative Priors Against Image Editing: From Benchmarking to AdvancesICLR2025GithubArxiv- benchmark for evaluating the robustness of watermarking methods against image editing methods and proposes a watermarking model based on SDXL-Turbo that remains robust to these editing methods

2.2 Watermarks to Guide Other Objectives

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
StegaStamp: Invisible Hyperlinks in Physical PhotographsCVPR2020GithubArxiv- Watermark in physical images that can be captured from video stream
- "Towards the Vulnerability of Watermarking Artificial Intelligence Generated Content" speculates that Deepmind SynthID works similarly to this
ChartStamp: Robust Chart Embedding for Real-World ApplicationsACM MM2022Github-- Like StegaStamp, but it introduces less clutter in flat regions in images
Unadversarial Examples: Designing Objects for Robust VisionNeurIPS2021GithubArxiv- Perturbations to make detection easier

2.3 Hardware-Assisted Watermarking

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Robust ASIC-Based Image Authentication Using Reed-Solomon LSB Watermarking-2026GithubResearchGate

2.4 Misc Papers (to be categorized...)

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
RAW: A Robust and Agile Plug-and-Play Watermark Framework for AI-Generated Images with Provable Guarantees-2024GithubArxiv- Withdrawn from arxiv
PiGW: A Plug-in Generative Watermarking Framework-2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- Withdrawn from arxiv
Benchmarking the Robustness of Image Watermarks (Wait for ICML source)ICML2024GithubArxiv- TODO
WMAdapter: Adding WaterMark Control to Latent Diffusion Models-2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- TODO
Steganalysis on Digital Watermarking: Is Your Defense Truly Impervious?-2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- TODO
Finding needles in a haystack: A Black-Box Approach to Invisible Watermark Detection-2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- TODO
ProMark: Proactive Diffusion Watermarking for Causal AttributionCVPR2024-Arxiv- TODO
Watermarking Images in Self-Supervised Latent SpacesICASSP2022GithubArxiv- TODO
Generative Autoencoders as Watermark Attackers: Analyses of Vulnerabilities and ThreatsICML Workshop DeployableGenerativeAI2023--- Attack on pixel-watermarks using LDM autoencoders
Invisible Image Watermarks Are Provably Removable Using Generative AI-2023GithubArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but removing watermarks with diffusion purification
- Evaluates stable signature and Tree-Ring Watermarks. Tree-ring is robust against their attack.
- Earlier Version of Generative Autoencoders as Watermark Attackers
WaterDiff: Perceptual Image Watermarks Via Diffusion ModelIVMSP-P2 Workshop at ICASSP2024--- TODO
Squint Hard Enough: Attacking Perceptual Hashing with Adversarial Machine LearningUSENIX2022--- Attacks on perceptual hashes
Evading Watermark based Detection of AI-Generated ContentCCS2023GithubArxiv- Evaluation of robustness of image watermarks + Adversarial sample for evasion
Diffusion Models for Adversarial PurificationICML2022GithubArxiv- Defense against adversarial pertubation, including imperceptible watermarks in images
Flow-Based Robust Watermarking with Invertible Noise Layer for Black-Box DistortionsAIII2023Github-- Like HiDDeN, just a neural watermark encoder/extractor
HiDDeN: Hiding Data With Deep NetworksECCV2018GithubArxiv- Main tool used in Stable Signature
- Contains differentiable approx. of JPEG compression
- Dynamic watermarking
Glaze: Protecting artists from style mimicry by text-to-image modelsUSENIX2023GithubArxiv- Is not about Rooting, but denying style stealing
DUAW: Data-free Universal Adversarial Watermark against Stable Diffusion Customization-2023-Arxiv- Seem similar to Glaze on first glance. Authors may have been unlucky to do parallel work
Responsible Disclosure of Generative Models Using Scalable FingerprintingICLR2022GithubArxiv- Rooting GAN models. Seems to have introduced the idea of scalably producing many models fast with large message space (TODO: check this later), similar to how Stable Signature did it later for stable diffusion.
On Attribution of Deepfakes-2020-Arxiv- They show that an image can be created that looks like it may have been generated by a targeted model. They also propose a framework how to achieve deniability for such cases.
Towards Blind Watermarking: Combining Invertible and Non-invertible MechanismsACM MM2022GithubArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about attacking post-hoc watermarking of images
- Lots of references on invertible NNs
DocDiff: Document Enhancement via Residual Diffusion ModelsACM MM2023GithubArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about post-hoc watermarking of images
- Includes classic watermark removal
Warfare:Breaking the Watermark Protection of AI-Generated Content-2023Did not look for it yetArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about attacking post-hoc watermarking
- Includes 1. watermark removal and 2. forging
Leveraging Optimization for Adaptive Attacks on Image WatermarksICML (Poster)2024Did not look for it yetArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about attacking post-hoc watermarking
A Somewhat Robust Image Watermark against Diffusion-based Editing Models-2023Did not look for it yetArxiv- Is not about rooting a model, but about post-hoc watermarking of images
- Takes watermarks literally and injects hidden images
Hey That's Mine Imperceptible Watermarks are Preserved in Diffusion Generated Outputs-2023-Arxiv- Is not about rooting a model. They show that watermarks in training data are recognizable in output and allow for intellectual property claims
Benchmarking the Robustness of Image Watermarks-2024GithubArxiv- Just a benchmark/framework for testing watermarks against
Free Fine-tuning: A Plug-and-Play Watermarking Scheme for Deep Neural NetworksACM MM2023Did not look for it yetArxiv- Is not about generative models, but discriminative models
Adversarial Attack for Robust Watermark Protection Against Inpainting-based and Blind Watermark RemoversACM MM2023Did not look for it yet-- Post-hoc watermark with enhanced robustness against inpainting
A Novel Deep Video Watermarking Framework with Enhanced Robustness to H.264/AVC CompressionACM MM2023Github-- Post-hoc watermark for videos
Practical Deep Dispersed Watermarking with Synchronization and FusionACM MM2023Did not look for it yetArxiv- Post-hoc watermark for images with enhanced robustness to transformations
Generalizable Synthetic Image Detection via Language-guided Contrastive Learning-2023GithubArxiv- Is not about rooting, but GenAI image detection
Enhancing the Robustness of Deep Learning Based Fingerprinting to Improve Deepfake AttributionACM MM-Asia2022--- Is not about rooting, but transformation-robustness strategies for watermarks
You are caught stealing my winning lottery ticket! Making a lottery ticket claim its ownershipNeurIPS2021GithubArxiv- Watermarking the sparsity mask of winning lottery tickets
Self-Consuming Generative Models Go MADICLR (Poster)2024-Arxiv- Contains a reason why GenAI detection is important: Removing generated content from training sets

3. Audio Domain


3.1 Papers on Watermarking (Audio)

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Proactive Detection of Voice Cloning with Localized Watermarking-2024GithubArxiv- Meta/FAIR author
MaskMark: Robust Neural Watermarking for Real and Synthetic SpeechICASSP2024Audio samplesIEEExplore-
Collaborative Watermarking for Adversarial Speech SynthesisICASSP2024-Arxiv- Meta/FAIR author
HiFi-GAN: Generative Adversarial Networks for Efficient and High Fidelity Speech SynthesisNeurIPS2020GithubArxiv- Very good GAN for Speech synthesis (TODO: Is this SotA?)
- Can do live synthesis even on CPU
- Quality is on par with autoregressive models
Spoofed Training Data for Speech Spoofing Countermeasure Can Be Efficiently Created Using Neural VocodersICASSP2023-Arxiv- Include vocoder generated training data to enhance detection capabilities for countermeasures
AudioQR: Deep Neural Audio Watermarks For QR CodeIJCAI2023Github-- Imperceptible QR-codes in audio for the visually impaired
Detecting Voice Cloning Attacks via Timbre WatermarkingNDSS2024GithubArxiv- Entangled with voice timbre/Voice cloning attack detection
WMCodec: End-to-End Neural Speech Codec with Deep Watermarking for Authenticity VerificationICASSP2025GithubArxiv- Speech codec with integrated watermarking functionality
WavMark: Watermarking for Audio Generation-2023GithubArxiv-
Speech Watermarking with Discrete Intermediate RepresentationsAAAI2025-Arxiv- Watermark embedded on token level
AudioMarkNet: Audio Watermarking for Deepfake Speech DetectionUsenix Security2025ZenodoUsenix- Speech Watermark for deepfake speech detection
GROOT: Generating Robust Watermark for Diffusion-Model-Based Audio SynthesisMM2024-Arxiv- Fine-tuning the generative model to enable endogenous watermarking capability
Poisoning The Diffusion: A Simple and Robust Watermarking Method for Audio GenerationICASSP2025--- Watermarking difusion models in training stage

3.2 Audio Synthesis Datasets

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
ASVspoof 2021 Challenge-2021GithubArxiv- Challenge for audio spoofing detection
ADD 2022: the first Audio Deep Synthesis Detection ChallengeICASSP2022GithubArxiv- Official Chinese challenge website (NO HTTPS!)

3.3 News on Audio Watermarking

4. Text Domain

PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Watermarks in the Sand: Impossibility of Strong Watermarking for Generative Models-2023GithubArxiv-
Adversarial Watermarking Transformer: Towards Tracing Text Provenance with Data HidingS&P2021GithubArxiv-
Resilient Watermarking for LLM-Generated Codes-2024Github AppendixArxiv- Code
Provably Robust Multi-bit Watermarking for AI-generated Text via Error Correction Code-2024-Arxiv- Error correction
Provable Robust Watermarking for AI-Generated TextICLR2024GithubArxiv- Apparently good and robust LLM Watermarking
Towards Codable Watermarking for Injecting Multi-Bits Information to LLMsICLR2024GithubArxiv- TODO
Is Multilingual LLM Watermarking Truly Multilingual? Scaling Robustness to 100+ Languages via Back-TranslationUnder review2025GithubArxiv- Robustness of multilingual LLM watermarking via back-translation (STEAM)
Watermarking Degrades Alignment in Language Models: Analysis and MitigationTMLR2026-Arxiv- Watermarking-alignment interaction; Alignment Resampling mitigation

5. Related News


6. Generative Model stealing Papers


PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
Stealing Machine Learning Models: Attacks and Countermeasures for Generative Adversarial NetworksACSAC2021-Arxiv-
Model Extraction Attack and Defense on Deep Generative ModelsJournal of Physics2022---
Model Extraction and Defenses on Generative Adversarial Networks-2021-Arxiv-

7. Survey Papers


PaperProceedings / JournalVenue Year / Last UpdatedCodeAlternative PDF SourceNotes
A Comprehensive Survey on Robust Image WatermarkingNeurocomputing2022-Arxiv- Not about model rooting
A Systematic Review on Model Watermarking for Neural NetworksFrontiers in Big Data2021-Arxiv- Not about model rooting
A Comprehensive Review on Digital Image Watermarking-2022-Arxiv- Not about model rooting
Copyright Protection in Generative AI: A Technical Perspective-2024-Arxiv- About IP protection in GenAI in general
Security and Privacy on Generative Data in AIGC: A Survey-2023-Arxiv- About security aspects in GenAI in general
Detecting Multimedia Generated by Large AI Models: A Survey-2024-Arxiv- About detecting GenAI in general
Audio Deepfake Detection: A Survey-2023-Arxiv- Contains overview of spoofed audio datasets, spoofing methods, and detection methods
- Very good servey

7.1 A Systematic Review on Model Watermarking for Neural Networks

Summarization of the systematization given in this review.

Taxonomy

  • Embedding method
    • Watermark in model parameters
    • Trigger-Watermark-Backdoor
  • Verification access
    • Whitebox (access model parameters)
    • Blackbox (access via API)
  • Capacity
    • Zero-bit (is watermark exists)
    • Multi-Bit (watermark contains arbitrary info)
  • Authentication
    • Model is watermarked
    • By whom model is watermarked
  • Uniqueness
    • All model instances carry same watermark
    • Different model instances carry different watermarks

Requirements & Security Goals

GoalExplainationMotivation
FidelityHigh prediction quality on original tasksmodel performance shouldn't significantly degrade
RobustnessWatermark should resist removalprotects against copyright evasion
ReliabilityMinimal false negativesensures rightful ownership is recognized
IntegrityMinimal false positivesprevents wrongful accusations of theft
CapacitySupports large information amountsallows comprehensive watermarks
SecrecyWatermark must be secret and undetectableprevents unauthorized detection
EfficiencyFast watermark insertion and verificationavoids computational burden
GeneralityIndependent of datasets and ML algorithmsfacilitates widespread application

Threat Model

  • Attacker Knowledge:
    1. existence of the watermark
    2. model and its parameters
    3. watermarking scheme used
    4. (parts of) the training data
    5. (parts of) the watermark itself or the trigger dataset
  • Attacker Capabilities (irrelevant)
    • passive (eavesdropping)
    • active (interaction)
  • Attacker Objectives
    • For what is model being used by the attacker? (rather unspecific)

Attacks against Watermarking

  • Watermark Detection (weakest)
  • Watermark Suppression, i.e. avoid watermark verification
    • e.g. dissimulating any presence of a watermark in the model parameters and behavior
    • e.g. suppressing the reactions of the model to the original watermark trigger
  • Watermark Forging
    1. Recovering the legitimate owner’s watermark and claiming ownership (if there is no binding between the watermark and the owner)
    2. Adding a new watermark that creates ambiguity concerning ownership
    3. Identifying a fake watermark within the model that coincidentally acts like a real watermark but actually is not
  • Watermark Overwriting
    1. Adding Watermark to model with deactivating old one (strong)
    2. Adding Watermark to model without deactivating old one (weak)
  • Watermark Removal
    1. depends on the presence of a watermark
    2. depends on the underlying watermarking scheme
    3. depends on availability of additional data, e.g. for fine-tuning or retraining
      • Methods
        • Fine-Tuning
        • Pruning
        • Quantization
        • Distillation
        • Transfer-Learning
        • Backdoor Removal

Categorizing Watermarking Methods

  • Embedding Watermarks into Model Parameters
    • Adding patterns into model which can be verified locally
  • Using Pre-Defined Inputs as Triggers
    • Adding behaviour triggered by special input
  • Using Model Fingerprints to Identify Potentially Stolen Instances
    • No additional action needed, just recognizing a model based on some criteria

8 Further Links

Practical tools for text watermark checks

generative-ai
watermark
watermarking

Contributors

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