Meta drops AI image feature on Instagram after outcry over privacy concerns
Meta has discontinued an AI image-generation feature on Instagram that allowed users to reference public accounts to create new images. The decision follows significant backlash from privacy advocates and talent agencies regarding the company's opt-out policy for public users.
Why it matters
This highlights the growing tension between AI development and user privacy, forcing tech giants to reconsider how they utilize public data for generative models.
Facebook's parent company Meta has announced that it is officially pulling back a controversial artificial intelligence (AI) feature that allowed users to generate custom images using photos from public Instagram accounts. The social media giant has openly admitted that the tool’s design and privacy settings heavily miscalculated public sentiment. The announcement follows a wave of global backlash from privacy advocates and Hollywood talent agencies.“Earlier this week, we announced that one way for people to generate images in Meta AI is by @-mentioning public Instagram accounts that they want to reference,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Variety.“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.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in