Meta suspends Instagram AI image tool after privacy backlash
Meta halted the Muse Image feature that automatically used public Instagram profiles to generate AI images following criticism from users, talent agencies and unions over privacy and copyright concerns.
Meta announced on Friday that it has paused the Muse Image feature on Instagram, which allowed the platform's AI system to create images using the likenesses of users with public accounts. The tool, launched on Tuesday, automatically enrolled all public profiles, prompting complaints that people’s images were being used without consent.
"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."
The decision came after thousands of users posted concerns on social media and shared steps to make their accounts private. Talent agencies, including Creative Artists Agency, and the SAG-AFTRA union also criticized the rollout, saying artists should control how their likenesses are used.
"Artists deserve to decide if and how their likeness and work is used, with consent and the ability to set their own terms," the agency said.
"Meta's decision to opt users in to the feature was an utter miscalculation of public sentiment," SAG-AFTRA added.
Muse Image remains accessible through WhatsApp and Meta's standalone AI app, and other Instagram AI filters introduced in the same launch are still active. The company also released an updated version of its Muse Spark model and indicated plans to launch an AI video generator later this year.
The pause follows similar scrutiny of AI tools at other firms, such as OpenAI's Sora video generator and X's Grok chatbot, which have faced privacy and copyright challenges.