Meta launches AI tool that uses public Instagram photos

On Tuesday, Meta launched “Muse Image,” a generative AI feature that lets users create original images, edit existing photos, and generate custom ads directly within its apps. The feature draws on photos from public Instagram accounts: as long as a profile is public, another user can tag that account and incorporate its images into an AI-generated creation. Private accounts and accounts belonging to users under 18 are automatically excluded from the feature.

The capability has quickly become the center of controversy. Users may have no idea their public photos are being pulled into someone else’s AI creation, and they aren’t notified when their content is reused this way. Many experts argue that stronger privacy protections and greater transparency are needed as generative AI features spread across social platforms, and the risk is not abstract: making it easy to manipulate people’s images opens the door to misuse, harassment, impersonation, and nonconsensual image editing.

Public wariness toward AI is already running high. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 35% of respondents said they’re more concerned than excited about the growing use of artificial intelligence. That skepticism is compounded by Meta’s own history. In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (the U.S. consumer protection regulator) imposed a $5 billion fine against Facebook, concluding that the platform had violated a 2012 consent order by misleading users about how much control they had over their personal information. That penalty followed the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the political consulting firm gained access to data from up to 87 million Facebook users through a personality quiz app. Facebook’s platform policies at the time allowed developers to collect information about those users’ friends without their knowledge or explicit consent.

Instagram users who want to keep their photos out of Muse Image can opt out: go to the profile menu, select “Sharing and reuse,” find the option labeled “Allow people to use your content on Instagram with AI features on Meta,” and toggle it off for both posts and reels.

Why it matters

Meta’s new Muse Image feature allows users to generate AI images using public Instagram photos without explicit consent or notification, raising significant privacy concerns and prompting users to seek opt-out methods.