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Meta has axed a controversial feature that allowed users to modify photos from public Instagram accounts using AI. The feature, which was rolled out earlier this week along with a batch of other AI tools, \u201cmissed the mark\u201d and is no longer available, according to the company. <\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Meta announced<\/a> Muse Image, a new AI image generator built by Meta Superintelligence Labs, its dedicated AI unit. Meta promoted one feature that allowed individuals to generate images by @-mentioning public Instagram accounts that they wanted to reference. The feature, which wasn\u2019t designed to alert a user if their photos were used in this way, prompted immediate backlash.<\/p>\n TechCrunch wrote its own guide<\/a> on how to disable the feature.<\/p>\n Now Meta has reversed course. The company issued a blog post<\/a> Friday announcing that it was removing the feature. Puck News founding partner Dylan Byers was the first to share the company\u2019s decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOur intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way,\u201d the company posted on its blog. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it\u2019s no longer available.\u201d<\/p>\n TechCrunch reached out to Meta for more information and will update this article if it responds.<\/p>\n Since its integration with social media platforms, AI has been misused with wild abandon \u2014 often to generate naked images of female celebrities<\/a>. Platforms have attempted to mitigate this trend, although the guardrails introduced have often fallen short.<\/p>\n In the case of Meta\u2019s newly nixed feature, it seems somewhat obvious that it would have been abused in this way. Indeed, Byers notes that the decision to do away with the feature came \u201camid scrutiny from users and talent agencies, including CAA.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n