GoKawiilThrough the looking glass: Meta launched a new AI image-generation model called Muse Image this week, letting users create, edit, and blend photos using natural language prompts inside Meta AI, with the tool already live on Instagram and WhatsApp and expected on Facebook and Messenger soon. However, the new feature is already raising privacy concerns, as it allows anyone to generate AI images using other people's Instagram photos.
All public Instagram profiles are automatically opted into Meta's new AI image platform by default, letting users generate AI images using someone else's likeness simply by tagging their account in a prompt. Meta notes that users won't be notified when someone uses their photos to generate an image, so they have no way of knowing how many images are being generated in their likeness, or by whom.
Thankfully, Meta says users can opt out of the image-generation feature without making their account private. To do so, open Instagram settings by tapping your profile picture, hit the hamburger menu in the top-right corner, then select Sharing and Reuse.
Under "Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features on Meta," toggle off both Posts and Reels.
Switching off those two options will prevent others from creating new AI images using your photos, but images that have already been created won't be deleted. The only other way to stop random people from generating AI images with your photos is to make your account private, which limits your content to approved followers only.
Muse Image is currently rolling out on Instagram and WhatsApp and is expected to reach Facebook and Messenger soon. Meta will also bring it to advertisers through its Advantage+ Creative suite of AI-powered tools, which automates aspects of ad creation such as background generation, image animation, and music integration.
Meta has often drawn scrutiny from privacy advocates and industry observers over user privacy and data security. Earlier this year, the company's smart glasses raised privacy alarms after contractors working with Meta in Kenya revealed they were being paid to review graphic and often intimate footage captured through the Meta AI Glasses, including clips of people using bathrooms, getting dressed, and engaging in sexual activity.