(Photo: Pixabay/Pexels)
by Sidnee Michelle
July 10, 2026
The feature, called Muse Image, debuted on July 7, as part of Meta’s expanding portfolio of generative AI products.
Meta’s latest artificial intelligence feature is prompting new questions about online privacy after the company confirmed that adults with public Instagram accounts are automatically eligible to have their publicly shared images used to generate AI-created content unless they choose to opt outMashable reports.
The feature, called Muse Image, debuted July 7, as part of Meta’s expanding portfolio of generative AI products. According to Meta, users can create AI-generated images by entering prompts that include an @mention of a public Instagram account, allowing the system to reference publicly available profile photos, posts, and Reels when generating new images.
The privacy implications of the rollout note that eligible public accounts are enrolled by default rather than through an opt-in process. Meta said the feature does not apply to private accounts or users younger than 18. Adults with public profiles, however, must manually disable the setting if they do not want their public content used in AI image generation.
Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang promoted the feature on social media, encouraging users to “pull from your friends’ public Instagram profiles by @ mentioning them in your prompt” when creating AI-generated images.
The rollout has drawn criticism from privacy advocates, who argue the default setting gives users too little control over how their likeness can be repurposed through artificial intelligence. Meta’s help documentation states users are not notified when someone generates an image using their public profile, and that opting out later does not remove images that have already been created.
Meta said Muse Image includes safeguards intended to prevent abuse, including restrictions on generating sexual content or images involving minors. The company also applies a digital watermark, known as “Content Seal,” to AI-generated images to identify them as synthetic content.
Muse Image is now available across the Meta AI app, Instagram, and WhatsApp, with additional integrations planned for Facebook and Messenger as the company continues investing heavily in generative AI technology. The launch reflects intensifying competition among Meta, OpenAI, and Google to expand consumer AI tools amid growing scrutiny over how publicly available user content is collected, repurposed, and governed.
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