Vaporizer: Breaking Watermarking Schemes for Large Language Model Outputs

Original Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the recent state-of-the-art schemes for watermarking large language models (LLMs) outputs. These techniques are claimed to be robust, scalable and production-grade, aimed at promoting responsible usage of LLMs. We analyse the effectiveness of these watermarking techniques against an extensive collection of modified text attacks, which perform targeted semantic changes without altering the general meaning of the text content. Our approach encompasses multiple attack strategies, which include lexical alterations, machine translation, and even neural paraphrasing. The attack efficacy is measured with two target criteria - successful removal of the watermark and preservation of semantic content. We evaluate semantic preservation through BERT scores, text complexity measures, grammatical errors, and Flesch Reading Ease indices. The experimental results reveal varying levels of effectiveness among different watermarking models, with the same underlying result that it is possible to remove the watermark with reasonable effort. This study sheds light on the strengths and weaknesses of existing LLM watermarking systems, suggesting how they should be constructed to improve security of available schemes.