Meta scraps AI Instagram feature days after launch following privacy backlash
Muse Image, which launched on Tuesday, allowed users to tag public accounts and use their photos to create or edit images
Meta has scrapped an AI feature which allowed users to generate fake images by combining photos posted by public Instagram accounts, after facing a backlash over privacy concerns.
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Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, launched Muse Image on Tuesday, allowing users to tag public Instagram accounts and use photos posted on those accounts to create original images or edit existing photos.
The feature soon faced backlash over privacy concerns and being an automatic opt-in for users.
This meant users may not have been alerted if their photo was incorporated into an AI image by strangers.
"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," Meta said in a statement.
"We've heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available," it said.
SAG-AFTRA, the Hollywood union representing actors and other media professionals, also urged members and other Instagram users on Thursday to opt out of the feature.
"Anything other than a clear and conspicuous opt-in for these types of uses of Instagram users' images is unacceptable, and an utter miscalculation of public sentiment regarding the obvious dangers and harms inherent in such use," SAG-AFTRA said.
Emmy-winning actor Hannah Einbinder, known for "Hacks," criticized the feature on Instagram, saying it had been turned on automatically and urging users to turn it off.
Following Meta's decision to remove the feature, SAG-AFTRA welcomed the move.
"With the dangers of nonconsensual digital replicas well known to all, a feature that encouraged that behavior is unwise. We appreciate its discontinuance. It is the responsible thing to do," a union spokesperson said.
The reversal reflects increasing pressure on technology companies to give users clear control over how their publicly shared content is used by AI features.