Meta is facing a backlash over its new AI tool Muse Image, which can generate pictures using other people’s profile pictures without telling them.

It’s one of many text-to-image tools that are made available to the public, as the name implies, that will generate images from a handful of basic written text.

Muse Image can be used via the Meta AI app and web browser, WhatsApp and Instagram Stories (for users in the United States).

While Meta says users can opt out of their image being used even with a public account, Donald Campbell, advocacy director at tech justice non-profit Foxglove, told the BBC it was an “obvious recipe for disaster”.

He said he has witnessed “a catalogue of harms” caused by non-consensual AI-manipulated images on social media platforms in the last year alone.

It’s difficult to imagine that Mark Zuckerberg believes it’s a good idea to enable even more of this grossly sinister image tampering.

The feature is set to be put under a spotlight as regulators and campaigners voice their concerns about the use of AI-generated images – the same Ofcom is currently investigating X for, amongst other things, its use of Grok to create and share images of real people without consent.

However, Privacy International have also raised concerns about the feature, telling the BBC, “The latest sign AI companies view people’s images and data as raw material to be exploited.”

One user commented on X: “The idea of luring real people into fake photos is a great privacy bomb in waiting.”

Along this line, users can even choose to opt out of sharing even if their accounts are public, thanks to a dedicated setting that is separate from account privacy controls, Meta said.

To make this happen, users will have to visit Instagram’s settings menu, click on Sharing and Reuse and disable the option “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta” for Posts and Reels.

These settings are only present if you have a public account – if your account is private, it will already be un-shareable.

Yet another image generator

Meta is already in a crowded market, as there are numerous tools available these days that can create images using AI from text.

But its use of Instagram is new – and powerful.

Meta explains in a blog post that the tool “employs advanced reasoning to comprehend advanced prompts,” incorporating several photos peacefully into high-quality creations that you can download and share everywhere.

The company also notes that users can select pre-programmed prompts and suggested prompts to “spark ideas” and make edits right on images through sketches.

The tool is available for “everyday creation” for free, but more users can sign up for more usage under one of its subscription plans, Meta said.

The company added that Muse Image will soon be available on Facebook and Messenger, and through another tool where it can be used by advertisers.

It is currently said to be in the process of being made into a video-generation version.