Meta has backed down on a controversial feature that allowed people's public Instagram posts to be used by anyone for AI generation.
By Nik Dirga for RNZ
The Muse Image function announced earlier this week was automatically being turned on for Instagram accounts, with Meta calling it "image generation built for your world".
However, after strong negative feedback on the feature and coverage in media such as RNZ, BBC, Wired, New York Times and more, Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have done an about-face.
"We've heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available," Meta posted Saturday afternoon NZ time on their announcement page.
"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," the company said.
While users could turn off the feature by going into their Instagram settings, it was by default automatically being turned on for millions of users. Only accounts that were private or those under 18 could avoid the feature.
New Zealand online and AI experts RNZ spoke to earlier this week called the feature deeply troubling.
"Just because someone has chosen to share content publicly does not mean they have meaningfully consented to it being remixed, transformed or reused by AI systems," online abuse expert and Canterbury University senior law lecturer Cassandra Mudgway said.
Andrew Lensen, senior lecturer in AI at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University, called it "entirely unethical".
"Having to 'opt-out' is not an ethically acceptable approach, especially when the vast majority of people will either be unaware or not have the time or headspace to go through and adjust their settings," Lensen said.
"When did you last check your privacy settings on social media to see if they align with your values? We need governmental regulation to stop this sort of unsociable behaviour."
Meta's Muse Image saw a quick backlash develop - Hollywood's powerful Creative Artists Agency (CAA) that represents stars like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Zendaya put out a statement that said: "No one's name, image, likeness, voice or creative work should be used by any third party, including AI models, without clear, documented consent."
There have been broader concerns about nonconsensual AI image generation through tools such as OpenAI's Sora, which allowed dead celebrities and others to be used in 'deepfake machines'. That tool was later pulled off the market by OpenAI as it said it would focus on other products.
Mudgway said public images are already frequently being used by third party AI systems "in ways many users never expected".
The company also said before their pullback that it would soon be rolling out Muse Image on Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp as it seeks to integrate AI across its social media apps.
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