Meta drops AI image feature on Instagram after outcry over privacy concerns

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. We’ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available,” the company spokesperson added.What is the Instagram feature and why there is backlashThe trouble began this week when Meta debuted Muse Image, its very first standalone AI image-generation model. Designed to enhance social experiences, the tool allowed anyone using the Meta AI chatbot to simply "@-mention" or tag any public Instagram account. The AI would then instantly scrape the images from that public profile to create entirely new, digitally altered images or deepfakes of that person.However, the feature immediately sparked outrage because of its aggressive “opt-out” policy. Instead of asking for permission, Meta automatically opted in all public account holders over the age of 18 by default. This meant that regular users, influencers, and celebrities could have their facial likeness used by total strangers without their explicit knowledge or consent, unless they manually dug through their settings to disable the feature.Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which is a prominent Hollywood talent firm representing A-list stars like Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, immediately contacted Meta to protest the tool.“No one’s name, image, likeness, voice or creative work should be used by any third party, including AI models, without clear, documented consent. True innovation puts creators first: respecting their rights, protecting their livelihoods, and giving them real control, not handing it over to platforms,” CAA stated.Meta had previously noted that while the tool was initially limited to Instagram, the company plans to introduce a wave of alternative generative AI features across WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger.Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.