Meta has scrapped a newly launched artificial intelligence feature that let people generate AI images from other users’ Instagram content, days after it triggered a fierce backlash.
The tool, known as Muse Image, was rolled out this week as part of Meta’s first major push into AI image generation. It allowed anyone using the Meta AI chatbot to tag public Instagram accounts and instantly repurpose their photos and posts into AI-generated or altered images.
Because public accounts were automatically opted in, the feature meant that ordinary users, celebrities, and public figures alike could have their likeness reused without ever being asked. The backlash was swift. Hollywood’s actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, had urged its members and Instagram users at large to protect themselves from the tool, warning that Meta had badly misjudged how the public would react to such a feature.
London-based privacy group Privacy International also weighed in, arguing that the episode was another example of AI firms treating people’s personal images and data as free material for their products.
Facing mounting pressure, Meta pulled the plug and admitted it had gotten the rollout wrong. The company said its goal had been to build a useful creative tool while still giving people a say over whether their content could be used this way, adding that it had taken the criticism on board.
Muse Image was initially limited to Instagram, but Meta has signalled that further AI tools, including an AI video feature, are still in the pipeline for WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger. The company declined to comment further on the withdrawal.
Source: bbc.co.uk