Meta Now Lets Anyone Create AI-Powered Images for Your Instagram Posts, but You Can Stop It.
On Tuesday, Meta announced its new Muse Image model , the first development from Meta Superintelligence Labs. With the new model, Meta promises to create hyper-realistic images, posters, and even videos—at least after the launch of Muse Video. This is all to be expected from a major AI company. But, as Wired reports , something strange is happening with the integration with public Instagram profiles.
How Meta’s new Instagram image generator feature works
By default, any Meta AI user can create an image based on the likeness of a public Instagram account, which can then be shared via chat, Stories, or the Instagram feed. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a celebrity or well-known figure (in fact, some celebrity profiles don’t support this feature). The key is that your personal Instagram profile is public. Google has a similar feature, but it’s limited to the user and only works after verification. There are no such restrictions here.
This is a pretty serious privacy issue. Every public profile is automatically opted into this new feature without the user’s consent. If you use Meta AI features on Instagram, you’re also complicit. For Meta, the difference is clear. If you post something publicly, they can use it on their AI platform. Of course, creating an image from two different faces is nothing new. You could simply upload two profile pictures and get the same effect. But Meta makes it incredibly simple on a very large scale.
I tested this in several ways. First, I tried creating an image of myself in a fight scene with Robert Downey Jr. The AI refused, possibly due to copyright issues. Then I asked Meta AI to create an image of me and my colleague Pranay Parab . This proved impossible because he has a private profile (more on that later).
Finally, I asked the program to create an image of me drinking coffee with my friend Dhaval, a cafe owner with a public profile. The image was created in less than a minute and was based on recent photos Dhaval and I had uploaded to our profiles (both of which are several years old). Sure, the program is easy to use, but is there a way to disable it?
How to prevent your Instagram profile from being used in AI-generated images.
If you have a private Instagram profile, you have nothing to worry about—unless someone you know uses your photos for their own purposes using AI. If you have a public profile, you need to disable the setting that allows Meta to use your profile data to generate Meta AI and Reels.
Open the Instagram app on your iPhone, go to your profile , and tap the three-line menu button in the upper-right corner. Go to “Share and Reuse” and find the section labeled ” Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features on Meta.” Here, turn off “Posts and Reels.”
The good news is, it works. I tried it on my coffee-themed Instagram page, which I rarely use. When I logged into my personal Meta profile, I asked Meta AI to create an image of me brewing coffee using my page handle, and it refused, claiming it didn’t have the rights to do so. This should certainly be the default setting.