Meta turns off Instagram feature that let users create AI deepfakes from public accounts
Following widespread backlash, Meta has disabled the Instagram feature announced this week that allowed users to generate AI images based on public accounts' content by simply tagging them.
Social media giant Meta has turned off an Instagram feature that was announced earlier this week, which enabled users to create AI-generated images using content from public Instagram accounts just by tagging those accounts. The feature, as originally designed, meant that content from any public Instagram account could be used in AI creations without the account owner's permission.
In an update to a blog post about its new Muse Image AI model, Meta stated: "Earlier this week, we announced that one way for people to generate images in Meta AI is by @-mentioning public Instagram accounts that they want to reference. 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. We’ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available."
Before completely disabling the feature, Meta had offered an opt-out option through settings, but that did not stem the criticism. Haley McNamara, executive director and chief strategy officer of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said on Friday: "Not only does this obviously erode our rights to our own likeness… but it is an obvious tool for #sextortion and other scammers! Pursuing high-risk design & then putting the onus on individuals to jump through hoops to opt out is unacceptable."
The Screen Actors Guild also recommended its members opt out of the feature and provided instructions on how to do so.
