Meta's new AI image generator may use your Instagram photos. Here's how to opt out

Meta has unveiled a new tool that allows people to take publicly posted Instagram photos and use them to generate artificial intelligence content.

The new product, Muse Image, was rolled out Tuesday and allows other users to pull “part or all of your published photos” to create new A.I. images, the company wrote in a blog post.

Users can tag a public Instagram account in the Meta AI app and direct the chatbot to create new AI photos based on photos from that person’s account.

The tool sparked immediate backlash and criticism from privacy advocates.

Taylor Lorenz, a journalist and author who covers technology, said it’s concerning because it allows users to create a photo or video using another person’s likeness without their consent and without any sort of notification.

“The fact that someone you don’t know could take your picture or your image and doctor an AI generated image of you is just really gross,” said J.B. Branch, director of AI policy at Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization.

Another concern is that any adult with a public Instagram account was automatically opted in.

Users can either set their account to private to protect their content or opt out by changing their account settings if they wish to remain public. Here’s how to opt out:

From the Instagram app, go to your profile
Tap the more options three lines icon at the top right
Scroll down to “Sharing and reuse” and tap
Go to “Allow people to create with and reuse your original audio on Meta AI” and toggle “Off”