GumbelSoft: Diversified Language Model Watermarking via the GumbelMax-trick
Jiayi Fu, Xuandong Zhao, Ruihan Yang, Yuansen Zhang, Jiangjie Chen, Yanghua Xiao
Abstract
Large language models (LLMs) excellently generate human-like text, but also raise concerns about misuse in fake news and academic dishonesty. Decoding-based watermark, particularly the GumbelMax-trick-based watermark (GM watermark), is a standout solution for safeguarding machine-generated texts due to its notable detectability. However, GM watermark encounters a major challenge with generation diversity, always yielding identical outputs for the same prompt, negatively impacting generation diversity and user experience. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new type of GM watermark, the Logits-Addition watermark, and its three variants, specifically designed to enhance diversity. Among these, the GumbelSoft watermark (a softmax variant of the Logits-Addition watermark) demonstrates superior performance in high diversity settings, with its AUROC score outperforming those of the two alternative variants by 0.1 to 0.3 and surpassing other decoding-based watermarking methods by a minimum of 0.1. 1 * Corresponding author. 1 Code is available at https://github.com/ PorUna-byte/Gumbelsoft Fixed Decoder function ❄ ➕ Fixed Pseudo-random function ❄ Γ F sk … Watermarked LLM User Multiple conversations between Watermarked LLM and User Reason for the Repetition Possible Solutions Nth conversation Kyoto, Shanghai, Istanbul Recommend three cities suitable for vacation Kyoto, Shanghai, Istanbul Recommend three cities suitable for vacation 1st conversation • Add uncertainty to the Decoder function: 1. Drop the watermark with a predefined probability 2. Replace the 'argmax' with 'sample from softmax' • Add uncertainty to the Pseudo-random function: 3. Randomly modify(cyclically shift) watermark key Repeated response from LLMs!
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Cited by top-tier papers8
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- On the Empirical Power of Goodness-of-Fit Tests in Watermark DetectionWeiqing He, Xiang Li, Tianqi Shang, Li Shen et al.NeurIPS 2025 · 6 citations
- From Trade-off to Synergy: A Versatile Symbiotic Watermarking Framework for Large Language ModelsYidan Wang, Yubing Ren, Yanan Cao, Binxing FangACL 2025 · 4 citations
- Improving the Trade-off Between Watermark Strength and Speculative Sampling Efficiency for Language ModelsWeiqing He, Xiang Li, Li Shen, Weijie Su et al.ICLR 2026 · 1 citation
Builds on8
- DetectGPT: Zero-Shot Machine-Generated Text Detection using Probability CurvatureEric Mitchell, Yoonho Lee, Alexander Khazatsky, Christopher D. Manning et al.ICML 2023 · 988 citations
- A Watermark for Large Language ModelsJohn Kirchenbauer, Jonas Geiping, Yuxin Wen, Jonathan Katz et al.ICML 2023 · 854 citations
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- Fast-DetectGPT: Efficient Zero-Shot Detection of Machine-Generated Text via Conditional Probability CurvatureGuangsheng Bao, Yanbin Zhao, Zhiyang Teng, Linyi Yang et al.ICLR 2024 · 311 citations
- Intrinsic Dimension Estimation for Robust Detection of AI-Generated TextsEduard Tulchinskii, Kristian Kuznetsov, Laida Kushnareva, Daniil Cherniavskii et al.NeurIPS 2023 · 163 citations
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