Nightshade: Data Poisoning to Fight Generative AI with Ben Zhao - #668
Jan 22, 2024
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In this engaging conversation, Ben Zhao, a Neubauer professor of computer science at the University of Chicago, dives into the critical intersection of security and generative AI. He introduces innovative tools like Fawkes, which masks images from facial recognition, and Glaze, designed to protect artists from style mimicry by subtly altering their work. Zhao also unveils Nightshade, a sophisticated defense mechanism that disrupts generative AI's ability to replicate artistic creations, raising vital questions about data poisoning and copyright in the AI era.
Fawkes, Glaze, and Nightshade are tools developed by Ben Zhao to provide users with security and protection against AI encroachments.
Glaze is a defensive tool that creates small perturbations in artwork styles to confuse AI models, protecting artists' work from fine-tuning attacks.
Deep dives
Protecting Artists from Misuse of Generative AI
Ben Zhao, a professor of computer science at the University of Chicago, discusses his research into the intersection of security and generative AI. He emphasizes the importance of defending machine learning systems against misuse and abuse, particularly in relation to the impact on human creatives such as artists, choreographers, musicians, and writers. Zhao explains the development of Glaze, a defensive tool that protects artists' work from fine-tuning attacks by creating small perturbations that preserve the original style but confuse AI models. He also introduces Nightshade, a new tool that uses poison-pill techniques to prevent unregulated scraping and training of artists' work. The aim is to make it more cost-effective for AI companies to use licensed art, thereby protecting artists' intellectual property.
Glaze: Protecting Artists' Work with AI
Ben Zhao discusses Glaze, a defensive tool he developed to protect artists from fine-tuning attacks on their work. Glaze uses stable diffusion models to create small perturbations in the style and composition of artwork, making it difficult for AI models to accurately reproduce the artist's style. Zhao explains how Glaze was designed in collaboration with artists and highlights the positive response and impact it has had within the artistic community. The tool has been downloaded over a million times and has been instrumental in raising awareness about the misuse of generative AI in the art industry.
Nightshade: Enforcing Copyright Protection in the Digital Landscape
Ben Zhao introduces Nightshade, a tool aimed at enforcing copyright protection in the digital landscape. Nightshade uses poison-pill techniques to distort the feature space of AI models during training, causing confusion and potential collapse in the model's output. Zhao explains that the tool is intended to increase the cost incurred by AI companies that engage in unregulated scraping of online content, making it more financially viable for companies to seek licensed art rather than relying on unauthorized use of artists' work. He emphasizes the goal of creating a shift in the industry towards respecting artists' intellectual property rights and promoting fair compensation for their creative output.
Implications and Future Potential
Ben Zhao discusses the potential implications and future applications of Glaze and Nightshade. He highlights the engagement of both individual artists and companies looking to protect their intellectual property. Zhao emphasizes the need for a shift in the industry towards licensed data usage and fair compensation for artists' work. He also mentions the challenges and ongoing developments in the field, as well as the possibility of these tools being used to enforce copyright protection for other forms of digital content.
Today we’re joined by Ben Zhao, a Neubauer professor of computer science at the University of Chicago. In our conversation, we explore his research at the intersection of security and generative AI. We focus on Ben’s recent Fawkes, Glaze, and Nightshade projects, which use “poisoning” approaches to provide users with security and protection against AI encroachments. The first tool we discuss, Fawkes, imperceptibly “cloaks” images in such a way that models perceive them as highly distorted, effectively shielding individuals from recognition by facial recognition models. We then dig into Glaze, a tool that employs machine learning algorithms to compute subtle alterations that are indiscernible to human eyes but adept at tricking the models into perceiving a significant shift in art style, giving artists a unique defense against style mimicry. Lastly, we cover Nightshade, a strategic defense tool for artists akin to a 'poison pill' which allows artists to apply imperceptible changes to their images that effectively “breaks” generative AI models that are trained on them.
The complete show notes for this episode can be found at twimlai.com/go/668.
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