Instagram’s latest update makes reels, videos, and photos from public profiles available to Meta AI by default, allowing the company’s AI tools to generate content using them unless creators opt out.
On Tuesday, Meta rolled out its new Muse Image model, entering a market dominated by image generators such as OpenAI’s GPT Image, Google Gemini, and Midjourney. The tool launched integrated into Instagram, with users automatically enrolled in its AI features.
“If your account is public, anyone on Instagram can reuse all or part of your reels, feed videos, and photos shared after reuse became available,” Instagram says on its Help Center page. “In addition, people may be able to create content with your Instagram content using AI features at Meta.”
Minors with public accounts will only have their content made available in this way to people they follow, according to Instagram. Users also will not be notified if someone creates content using Meta AI with their public photos or videos, the company says.
These default settings can be turned off in the Sharing and Reuse section of an Instagram profile.
However, even if a user opts out or deletes public photos that have already been used to generate AI content, images previously created by other users will not be removed, according to Instagram.
Meta’s opt-out approach mirrors practices used by other tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, which enable certain AI features by default while allowing users to opt out.
It comes as AI-generated content, including deepfakes, is driving a growing share of scams that cost Americans tens of billions of dollars each year, according to new research from Gallup.
Americans lost an estimated $68 billion to scams last year, or around $186 million per day, the polling firm said in a survey published last week. Around 12% of victims said their cases involved AI or a deepfake, although the actual figure may be significantly higher, according to Gallup.