Meta has removed a controversial feature that allowed users to use AI to change photos on their public Instagram accounts. The company said the feature was rolled out earlier this week along with other AI tools, but it “misses the mark” and is no longer available.
Earlier this week, Meta announced Muse Image, a new AI image generator built by a dedicated AI unit known as Meta Superintelligence Labs. Meta touted the ability for individuals to generate images by @mentioning a public Instagram account they would like to see. The feature immediately sparked a backlash because it was not designed to warn users if their photos were used in this way.
TechCrunch has created its own guide that tells users how to disable this feature.
Now, Meta has changed tack. The company published a blog post on Friday announcing the removal of this feature. Puck News founding partner Dylan Byers first shared the company’s decision.
“Our goal was to provide useful creative tools and give people control over whether their public content can be viewed in this way,” the company said in a blog post. “We’re hearing feedback that this feature missed the mark and is no longer available.”
TechCrunch has reached out to Meta for more information and will update this article if we hear back.
Since its integration with social media platforms, AI has been wildly abused. Often naked images of female celebrities are produced. Platforms have attempted to mitigate this trend, but the guardrails put in place have often been insufficient.
In the case of Meta’s newly deprecated features, it seems somewhat obvious that they were exploited in this way. In fact, Byers notes that the decision to remove the feature was made “under intense scrutiny from users and talent agencies, including CAA.”
If you buy through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect editorial independence.
