Meta pulls controversial AI image tool days after launch
The feature allowed users to generate images from other Instagram users’ public profiles.
Instagram logo displayed on a smartphone screen. Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
- Meta discontinued Muse’s Instagram image-editing feature days after launch following widespread privacy backlash.
- The tool let users edit photos from public Instagram profiles by entering account handles.
- Meta said it intended to give users control, but acknowledged the feature “missed the mark.”
- Privacy groups and Sag-Aftra welcomed the shutdown, citing risks of nonconsensual digital replicas.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Meta has decided to discontinue its newly-launched AI feature that allowed users to generate images using public Instagram accounts after widespread privacy backlash.
The feature was part of Muse, Meta's new AI image generator released on July 7th and marketed as “the creative partner that knows your world.”
The free tool allowed users to create high-quality visuals by describing what users need, with visuals available for download and sharing.
But soon, it came to light that its functionality, called the “presets panel,” allows direct editing of photos from other Instagram users’ public profiles by typing their handles.
Users who wished to opt out of the feature had to set their profile to private.
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"Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way," Meta said in a statement.
We've heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available.Meta
Unions and high-profile individuals across the world criticized the feature. The London-based human rights charity Privacy International told the BBC it was "the latest sign AI companies see people's images and data as raw material to be exploited".
Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA, which urged Instagram users to opt out of the feature, welcomed the move, saying: "With the dangers of nonconsensual digital replicas well known to all, a feature that encouraged that behavior is unwise. We appreciate its discontinuance. It is the responsible thing to do.”
The news comes as AI companies face increasing pressures to address privacy concerns over how they use people's images and personal data. Australian actor Cate Blanchett has recently introduced a free tool that helps people prevent their identities from being used by AI without consent.
