Why has Meta pulled back Muse AI feature from Instagram?
Meta has discontinued its 'Muse AI' feature on Instagram after facing significant user backlash regarding privacy and the nonconsensual use of public photos for AI training. The feature allowed users to reference public accounts to generate and edit images.
Why it matters
This incident highlights the growing public sensitivity toward AI privacy and the pressure on tech giants to prioritize consent in generative AI tools.
In less than a week, Meta has discontinued a controversial AI feature it added to Instagram, admitting that it “missed the mark.” The social media giant faced backlash from its users over privacy concerns.
The feature, called Muse AI, was announced on July 7, allowing users to mention another user’s public Instagram account in order to use their photos and edit them with AI.
Meta users were worried that their images could be misused and morphed without their consent. Some shared how users can opt out of the feature and prevent others from using their media for AI edits.
The heavily criticised AI feature was launched alongside Muse Image — Meta Superintelligence Labs’ first AI image generation model.
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