Meta is facing a firestorm of criticism over its new AI image generator, Muse Image, which can create pictures using other people's Instagram profile photos without telling them – sparking warnings from privacy campaigners of a “recipe for disaster”.
The tool, available through the Meta AI app, web browser, WhatsApp and Instagram Stories for US users, is the latest text-to-image system to hit the market. But its ability to pull in real users’ public images without their knowledge has triggered alarm.
“Meta's Muse Image tool lets users generate AI pictures from others' public Instagram photos, sparking privacy fears.”
“We've already seen a catalogue of harms from non-consensual AI-altered images on social platforms just in the past year,” said Donald Campbell, advocacy director at tech justice non-profit Foxglove. “It is hard to see why Mark Zuckerberg thinks facilitating yet more of this creepy image manipulation is a good idea.”
Privacy International also condemned the feature, telling the BBC it was “the latest sign AI companies see people's images and data as raw material to be exploited”. The criticism comes as Ofcom investigates X over its AI tool Grok’s role in creating and sharing non-consensual AI-altered images of real people.
On social media, users expressed outrage. “Pulling real users into generated photos without explicit consent is a privacy landmine waiting to detonate,” one person wrote on X.
Meta has responded by pointing to a dedicated opt-out setting, separate from account privacy controls, that allows users to prevent their images being used even if they have a public account. To do so, Instagram users must go to Settings, select “Sharing and Reuse” and switch off “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta” for posts and reels. The option only appears for public accounts; private accounts are already excluded.
The BBC tested the tool, asking Muse AI to generate an image of the reporter driving a car. It produced a convincing result – though it placed the steering wheel on the wrong side for a UK car.
In a blog post announcing the feature, Meta said Muse Image uses “advanced reasoning to understand complex prompts, seamlessly blending multiple photos into high-quality creations you can download and share anywhere”. The company added that users can choose from presets and suggested prompts to “spark ideas”, as well as sketch edits directly onto images. The tool is free for “everyday creation”.
With regulators and campaigners already circling, Meta’s latest push into AI-generated imagery raises urgent questions about consent and accountability, just as the tech giant enters an already crowded market with a uniquely powerful – and controversial – twist.