remove: drop all face-restore code (regeneration, not preservation)

Empirical conclusion from the 2026-06-04 - 2026-06-08 Modal cert sweeps:
every face-restore approach we built (GFPGAN-on-cleaned, PhotoMaker-V2,
InstantID txt2img, InstantID img2img-on-cleaned at three parameter
settings) regenerates the face via SDXL diffusion rather than preserves
it. Output face pixels are diffusion-fresh, so the regenerated face
inherits SDXL "clean skin" aesthetic and loses original identity
precision -- it looks MORE AI-generated than the cleaned image, not
less. The cleaned image from the main controlnet 0.20 removal pass is
the least-AI face state we can reach without re-introducing SynthID.

Nothing in the restore family achieves the actual goal (preserve the
original person's face). Keeping them around as opt-in invites users to
ship something that defeats the point. Removing entirely.

Library changes:
- Deleted src/remove_ai_watermarks/instantid_restore.py
- Deleted src/remove_ai_watermarks/photomaker_restore.py
- Deleted tests/test_instantid_restore.py
- Deleted tests/test_photomaker_restore.py
- Removed `instantid` and `photomaker` extras from pyproject.toml
- Removed `[tool.hatch.metadata] allow-direct-references = true` (was
  only needed for the photomaker git+ URL)
- InvisibleEngine.remove_watermark: dropped `restore_faces` +
  `restore_faces_method` params, removed both `_restore_faces_instantid`
  and `_restore_faces_photomaker` private methods, removed dispatch
- CLI: dropped `_restore_faces_options` decorator, all four cmd_*
  signatures lose `restore_faces` + `restore_faces_method`, kwarg passes
  to remove_watermark dropped
- _apply_auto: dropped `restore_faces` from tuple shape (was unused after
  the engine no longer takes it)
- auto_config.AutoConfig: dropped `restore_faces` field; `plan()` no
  longer sets it; `reason` no longer mentions it
- Tests updated accordingly (test_auto_config.TestReason no longer asserts
  "face-restore on" in the reason string)

Docs updated:
- CLAUDE.md: removed the photomaker extras bullet, the Face restore
  trade-off bullet, the instantid_restore.py + photomaker_restore.py
  module bullets; replaced restore mentions in watermark_remover and
  controlnet bullets and prod recipe with the empirical conclusion
- README.md: removed both `--restore-faces` callouts and the install
  snippet; the feature bullet and auto-mode comment updated
- docs/synthid-robust-identity-research.md: added Status-retired notice
  at the top pointing at the 2026-06-08 followup

raiw-app:
- modal_cert.py: dropped `--restore-faces` flag entirely; sweep() no
  longer takes restore_faces; pinned _LIB_SPEC to `[gpu]` extras (no
  `photomaker` / `instantid` extras), points at main

ruff + strict pyright clean; 569 tests pass; 18 restore-specific tests
gone.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Victor Kuznetsov
2026-06-08 21:21:58 -07:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 4.8
parent 567f3ae729
commit 20d7eda96a
14 changed files with 33 additions and 2014 deletions
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@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
# SynthID-robust face identity for an SDXL removal pipeline (research)
> **Status (2026-06-08): retired.** Every approach described below was empirically
> tested and rejected -- see `docs/synthid-robust-identity-research-2026-06-08.md`
> "Empirical follow-up" for the final conclusion. The library no longer ships any
> face-restore extra: the cleaned image from the main controlnet 0.20 pass is the
> least-AI face state we can reach without re-introducing SynthID. This document
> is kept as historical record of the exploration.
**Question.** Which face identity-preservation mechanism for an SDXL img2img +
canny-ControlNet watermark-removal pipeline (denoise 0.20-0.30) is BOTH (a)
commercial-safe end-to-end and (b) does not re-introduce the SynthID pixel