Meta has had to withdraw its new artificial intelligence tool called Muse Image just a few days after launching it. The feature, which arrived on Instagram on Tuesday, allowed users to use the Meta AI chatbot to tag public accounts and generate modified images with the content of those accounts. The problem is that everyone with a public account was enabled by default, which meant anyone could use their own image or someone else’s without permission.
The controversy was not long in coming. Artists, celebrities and ordinary users protested because their face and their content could be manipulated without their consent. The Hollywood union Sag-Aftra called Meta’s decision a «serious miscalculation» and celebrated the withdrawal as a victory. Meta itself acknowledged that it «had failed» and that the feature «is no longer available».
This case reminds us that artificial intelligence advances much faster than the rules that regulate it. Any person with a public account on social networks can see their image used by AI tools without having given explicit permission. The lesson is clear: before launching AI features that affect millions of people, companies should ask for permission first, not the other way around. For now, Muse Image has disappeared, but the question of who controls our image on the internet remains more open than ever.
— Marta, for inteligencia intermitente.
