Meta’s Muse AI image generator lets users alter photos on public Instagram accounts

Meta is facing a fresh wave of criticism over a new AI image generator — which encourages users to generate AI images using other people's public photos.

On Tuesday, Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, introduced an AI tool called Muse Image, created by its AI division, Superintelligence Labs.

Muse Image is available via Meta's AI app, as well as WhatsApp and Instagram Stories. According to Meta, Muse Image "uses advanced reasoning to understand complex prompts, seamlessly blending multiple photos into high-quality creations you can download and share anywhere."

So far, so normal — but the AI image generator also lets users @ mention a specific Instagram account within the Meta AI app in order to add that Instagram account to the Muse Image creator.

In other words, Muse Image can add an Instagram user to their AI creations without the Instagram user's awareness. 

"Tagging a username lets Meta AI use public photos to build a visual that’s ready to post," Meta says. Any public Instagram profile can be used by Muse Image, unless that user explicitly opts-out.

Not surprisingly, privacy experts and watchdog groups are criticizing Meta over the feature. The nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen called the feature "an egregious invasion of user privacy."

"Meta has once again chosen the creepiest possible path," said J.B. Branch, the Public Citizen's director of federal AI governance and technology policy, in a statement. "People should not wake up to discover their face has become raw material for someone else's AI experiment.

"This is another invasion of consumers' privacy. Instead of asking for meaningful consent, Meta quietly defaults users into the system and buries the opt-out in account settings. It’s a playbook we've come to expect from a company with a long history of putting its business interests ahead of the public."

How to opt-out of Meta's Muse Image

Speaking of opting-out, there are two ways to make sure your public Instagram images and likeness aren't used by the @ mention Muse Image feature.

If your Instagram profile is set to private, Instagram respects that privacy setting as Muse Image requires access to Instagram account's public photos in order for the tool to generate AI images. Muse Image will inform a user that they cannot use your Instagram account likeness if they try to @ mention your account to generate an image.

If you have a public Instagram profile, however, you do now need to opt-out in your account settings.

Open the Instagram app on your phone. Head to your Profile. From there, tap the menu button in the top-right hand corner and then tap on Sharing and Reuse. On that page, scroll down to the "Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta" section.

There are two settings, Posts and Reels, each with their own toggle. Turn both of them off if you don't want Meta's AI tools to use either your Posts, which include images, or your Reels, in order to generate content for Muse Image.