Privacy in Eye Tracking Research with Stable Diffusion

Abstract

Image-generative models take textual prompts as input and generate almost arbitrary image content based on the underlying training data. This technology is rapidly developing and produces better results with each new generation of trained models. Apart from the application to create artwork, we see potential in deploying such models for eye-tracking research with respect to anonymizing content in visual stimuli. One feature of such models is the ability to take an image as input and adjust content according to a prompt. Hence, privacy-preserving visualization of stimuli can be achieved for static images and videos by slightly adjusting content to anonymize persons, text, and other sensible sources. In this work, we will discuss how this process can be applied to the presentation and dissemination of results with respect to privacy issues resulting from eye-tracking experiments.