dead Facebook shut down its AI photo creation feature after just three days, following public backlash.
The technology giant last Tuesday (July 7) foot A tool that allows users to create photos using public Instagram accounts. By Friday (July 10), the feature had been withdrawn, after Meta received widespread privacy criticism.
“Our goal was to provide a useful creative tool and give people control over whether they can reference their public content in this way,” Meta said in a statement. subscriber By Reuters. “We heard feedback that this feature didn’t deliver, so it’s no longer available.”
According to Reuters, the feature has faced backlash related to privacy concerns. It allowed anyone to create a photo of another person by their public Instagram username in a snap. Public accounts are included by default unless users go to a setting to opt out.
As covered here last week, Meta’s own policy states that “users will not be notified of content created using Meta’s AI features.” The opt-out is also not applied retroactively, meaning that images created before the user turns off the setting remain in the system.
“Which The distinction is important Because most users won’t find the setting, and some who searched for it on launch day couldn’t locate it at all.
“Public images posted to an audience of followers become reusable input for AI generation by strangers, advertisers, and Meta’s ad system with no action required from the account holder. The feature is free to use. And the identity data it powers belongs to the people who posted it. Whether they have consented to such use is now a question for regulators in multiple jurisdictions.”
According to a Reuters report. sag-avtraThe union, which represents actors and other media workers, urged its members and other Instagram users to opt out of the feature.
“Anything other than a clear and obvious opt-in to these types of uses by Instagram users.” The images are unacceptable, and a complete misjudgment of the public’s feelings regarding the obvious “The risks and harms inherent in such use,” SAG-AFTRA said.
Following Meta’s decision to remove the feature, a guild spokesperson welcomed the move, calling it “the responsible thing to do.”
As PYMNTS pointed out last week, this is happening at a time when Meta is facing enormous pressure to show that its investments in AI are generating revenue. In April, the company expected artificial intelligence capital expenditures of $115 billion to $135 billion For 2026, nearly double last year’s amount.
