Meta just launched a new AI generator, Muse Image, and users are already pushing back over use of their photos

Meta on Tuesday revealed Muse Image, the new AI image generator built by Meta Superintelligence Labs, the company’s dedicated AI unit. The feature, internally codenamed Mango, is now available for free via the Meta AI app, but also on Instagram Stories and WhatsApp.

Unfortunately, the new model is already causing controversy.

What exactly can you do with Muse? It seems like the use cases are similar to most other AI image generators: for example, you can create a lot of silly, cartoony images.

If you’re low on inspiration and can’t come up with original prompts yourself, Meta says Muse comes with “presets” (prefabricated image prompts) to “spark ideas.”

However, a particularly eyebrow-raising feature allows users to manipulate another Instagram user’s images with AI, as long as that user’s profile is public. Users merely tag the person so they can take a photo and use it to create a new AI image.

An X user said after The Verge first noticed how potentially invasive this is: “Drawing real users into generated photos without explicit consent is a privacy landmine waiting to explode.”

Meta Policy states that “people may be able to create content from your Instagram content using AI features at Meta” and that “You will not receive notification about content created using AI features at Meta.”

Meta claims that users have “control” over this feature, and notes that there are settings You can disable this kind of co-option of your photos if you wish.

Muse has other, less invasive uses. One does create custom ads (AI has crept into advertising in particular in the past year). Another is experimenting with interior decorating ideas: In a promotional video, a user uses Muse to see what a second-hand sofa might look like in his garage. The latter feature is designed to integrate with Facebook Marketplace, Meta’s popular Craigslist-like spot for used furniture and accessories.

The model also features prompt-based image editing, which allows users to create images to share across Meta’s apps and platforms

“Ask it to recreate an image of you in front of a historical landmark, cleanly erase a photobomber from the background of a shot, or write a custom prompt to build a functional QR code,” the company offers.

At the same time, so is Meta launching a host of new AI effects for Instagram Stories, powered by Muse – specifically the same platform at the center of the photo tagging concerns above. These effects include customizable filters that can modify existing photos.

Meta says that using the new AI model is free for “daily creation,” although users will need a subscription once they exceed a certain limit.

The company also said that Muse Video – believed to be an AI video generator – is “already in development.” TechCrunch has reached out to Meta for more information.

Meta has released a number of AI apps and services in the past year, including an AI assistant called Creator, and Bagan app that can be used to code video games. The company is accused of… vague AI strategyeven though it still is on the way to spending a lot on AI infrastructure this year as it continues to expand its services.

Meta’s privacy record is a reason for users’ discomfort about Muse. The company paid a then-record price A fine of $5 billion to the FTC in 2019, after regulators discovered that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had unlawfully collected data from tens of millions of Facebook users — without their knowledge — to build voter-targeted profiles ahead of the 2016 U.S. election. known about the data misuse years before it became public.

Separately the company to block Facebook’s facial recognition system in 2021 — a tool that automatically recognized people in photos and videos — amid lawsuits and regulatory pressure over its collection of biometric data. In short, Muse’s photo tagging feature, which is disabled by default, fits a pattern that users and regulators have noted before: broad use of people’s data unless they actively disable it.