Instagram users are being advised to review their privacy settings following the recent rollout of Meta's new AI image generator, Muse Image. The tool, which became available last Tuesday, has drawn significant criticism from privacy advocates for its default setting, which allows it to generate images using photos from public Instagram profiles without notifying the individuals involved.
Muse Image enables users to tag public Instagram profiles and create new pictures by drawing from the faces featured in these social media posts. While Meta describes it as its "most advanced image generation model yet," the lack of notification for users whose images are incorporated has prompted a backlash. Cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes, in a blog post from 9 July, suggested that the simplest way for concerned users to prevent their photos from being used by Muse Image is to switch their public Instagram accounts to private. This "blunt solution," as they put it, effectively stops strangers from accessing public profiles as source material.
For those who wish to maintain a public profile, Meta states that adult users can opt out through their settings. A spokesperson for Meta informed the Guardian that Muse Image was developed "with strong controls and safety guardrails from day one," adding that "private accounts and those belonging to users under 18 are automatically excluded." The company directs Instagram users to the "sharing and reuse" section of their settings to toggle off the option allowing content reuse.
However, privacy organisations like Proton and activists from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) argue that placing the onus on users to proactively disable this feature is unfair. They highlight that finding the relevant setting can be challenging, with Proton noting that "data sharing is turned on by default, the opt-out is buried deep in settings." Thorin Klosowski, a senior security and privacy activist at EFF, commented that such a setting "should absolutely be opt-in for Instagram users," as it represents a new use of photos posted publicly for years, a use likely not considered when users initially signed up.
While Meta has confirmed that Muse Image users cannot tag accounts belonging to individuals under 18 and that teens cannot use the feature to reference other accounts, questions remain regarding images of children depicted in public accounts belonging to adults. Proton has raised concerns that children featured in public photos could still have their faces appropriated by the AI tool, an issue Meta has yet to fully clarify.