Meta abruptly removed its generative AI tool Muse Image on Instagram. The decision came after a global wave of complaints about privacy violations.
The controversy
The function, developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs, allowed images or videos to be created and modified using faces from public accounts through mentions, without the need for prior authorization. Users found that the option was activated by default.
“This feature did not meet expectations, so it is no longer available,” Meta admitted in an official statement.
The actors union SAG-AFTRA described the implementation as “reckless” and warned about risks of non-consensual deepfakes. In a statement, they noted that “anything other than explicit and visible consent for this type of use of Instagram users’ images is unacceptable.” Actress Hannah Einbinder also joined, asking the public to review their profiles before the exhibition.
Despite the shutdown, the debate over using user data to train AI models continues. Instagram maintains an option to manually restrict that use. The steps, according to the Help Center:
- Enter your profile and open the settings menu (three horizontal lines).
- Search Share and reuse.
- Turn off the Posts and Reels toggles in the section about allowing others to use your AI-enabled content in Meta.
SAG-AFTRA celebrated Meta’s rectification and described it as a responsible action in the face of the damage that can be caused by the excessive use of graphic identities without validation filters.
