The Public Got So Mad at Meta’s New AI Photo Tool That It’s Scrapped Already
Meta has withdrawn a new AI photo generation feature that allowed users to reference public Instagram accounts after facing significant public backlash regarding privacy and consent. The feature was criticized by groups like SAG-AFTRA for failing to provide an opt-in mechanism for the use of personal images.
Why it matters
This incident underscores the growing tension between tech companies deploying generative AI and public concerns over data privacy and nonconsensual digital replicas.
I don’t know what the world record is for killing bad AI features quickly, but this has to be a competitor. On Tuesday, July 7, Meta released an AI photo generation feature that pulled face data from any public Instagram account by default. It made it to Friday—a little over three days in operation by my count.
The model tied to the feature, Muse Image, is still available. Muse Image is the first Image Generator released by Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, and the blog post announcing it calls it , “the creative partner that knows your world, making it easy to turn your ideas into high-quality visuals that you can download and share anywhere, including directly to your feed, story, or chat.”
However, the blog post now has an update, added Friday:
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