Meta pulled a new Instagram AI feature Friday after four days of backlash over an opt-out system that let anyone generate images using public accounts, including celebrities like Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, without their knowledge. The feature, part of the Muse Image rollout Tuesday, let users type a public Instagram handle into Meta AI and generate new images based on that account's photos. It was enabled by default for all public accounts over 18.
Users who objected had to manually disable it through account settings. The system did not notify people when their likeness was used.
Creative Artists Agency (CAA), whose client list includes Hanks and Streep, said it raised concerns directly with Meta and urged the company to adopt "a more reasonable approach." In a statement Wednesday, the agency said artists "deserve to decide if and how their likeness and work is used, with consent and the ability to set their own terms."
SAG-AFTRA piled on Thursday, calling Meta's opt-in default "an utter miscalculation of public sentiment" around AI use. The union urged its members to disable the setting and protect their likenesses. By Friday, Meta reversed course.
Founding partner Dylan Byers at Puck News was first to report the decision. The company posted a blog post acknowledging the failure.
"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. "We've heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available."
CAA commended Meta for its "swift decision," calling consent "essential to building responsible technology." The quick reversal fits a pattern. OpenAI faced similar criticism over an opt-out feature in its Sora 2 video model, eventually shutting it down earlier this year.
X blocked its Grok chatbot from posting images publicly after millions of manipulated images of women and children in minimal clothing flooded the platform.
Meta is not abandoning its AI push. The broader Muse Image generator remains available on WhatsApp and the Meta AI app.
On Thursday, the company released a new version of its Muse Spark AI model and said it plans to ship an AI video generator in the coming months. The Instagram-specific feature, however, is gone with no announced timeline for return.
