Instagram’s new AI update can use your public photos to generate images, unless you turn it off

AI is everywhere, and somehow, people are not liking it that much.

Another artificial intelligence feature has been introduced, as Instagram now allows users to generate AI images using photos from other people’s public accounts by tagging their profiles in prompts.

Meta recently introduced Muse Image, the company’s first image generation model developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs. Designed to act as a creative partner that “knows your world,” the feature allows users to turn their ideas into high-quality visuals that can be downloaded and shared directly to their feed, stories, or chats.

Users can generate images just by entering a few lines of simple written text. They can provide what they want to see, clean the background, or improve the quality of an image.

The recent update drew criticisms from netizens, saying that it’s dangerous and illegal as the users may use other people’s photos without their permission.

are we just forgetting how dangerous this is? so many women AND CHILDREN were sexually harassed on this app due to ai generated images and instagram thinks it’s a good idea to allow the same? gross. https://t.co/0KVtphnb2W pic.twitter.com/yUNwl6brdu

— ꕤ (@glindaupland) July 9, 2026

this should be illegal and taken back immediately https://t.co/hHbf1eS5xq

— kristen (not stewart) yellowjackets shish-kabob 🍡 (@lordesbbqribs) July 9, 2026

According to BBC’s report, Donald Campbell, advocacy director at tech justice non-profit organization Foxglove said that the new feature was an ‘obvious recipe for disaster.’

“We’ve already seen a catalogue of harms from non-consensual AI-altered images on social platforms just in the past year,” he said. “It is hard to see why Mark Zuckerberg thinks facilitating yet more of this creepy image manipulation is a good idea.”

Users can turn it off

With the ongoing backlash, Meta released a statement regarding safety concerns of Muse Image. They also clarified that users with public accounts can opt out of their images being used.

“We built this feature with strong controls and safety guardrails from day one. Private accounts that are under 18 are automatically excluded and adults with public accounts can opt out with easy-to-use controls. We’ll take action against any content that violates our rules.”

How to disable the feature?

Users can disable the feature by going to Instagram’s Settings, selecting ‘Sharing and Reuse,’ and turning off ‘Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta’ for posts and Reels.

With the risks it poses, netizens have been helping one another online by sharing how to disable the feature to prevent their images from being used for AI-generated content.

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