Influencers under Kyle Hjelmeseth’s talent management firm build their Instagram presence on lived experience. Their control over that image and likeness got shakier Tuesday when Instagram’s parent company Meta rolled out Muse Image — a tool that lets people take publicly posted Instagram photos and use AI to generate new images from them.
Many accounts were opted in by default, making their public photos available to the tool and setting off alarm in the entertainment industry.
“I just think it’s wrong again to expect people to opt themselves out of something that literally has been proven to be able to create harm,” said Hjelmeseth, chief executive of influencer talent management firm G&B.
Major talent agency CAA said it raised concerns with Meta on behalf of its clients.
“We call on Meta to make protection the default on Muse Image AI, not the exception, and enable individuals to opt-in if they want to allow usage of their image or likeness for AI content creation,” CAA said in a statement. “Artists deserve to decide if and how their likeness and work is used, with consent and the ability to set their own terms. This means letting creators impose restrictions, monitor usage, and prevent unauthorized endorsements or exploitation.”
“CAA believes in the power of new technology, but not at the cost of individuals’ rights or livelihoods,” the agency said. “The future of creativity depends on respecting the ownership and autonomy of those who make it possible.”
SAG-AFTRA was also critical of the roll out.
“Anything other than a clear and conspicuous OPT-IN for these types of uses of Instagram users’ images is unacceptable, and an utter miscalculation of public sentiment regarding the obvious dangers and harms inherent in such use,” the performers’ union said in a statement.
Hollywood has long been wary about AI, after a string of deepfakes — videos or images depicting celebrities doing or saying things they never authorized. Jamie Lee Curtis and others have appeared in ads for products they never endorsed. Last year, OpenAI’s Sora 2 video tool drew outrage in Hollywood after users conjured up dead celebrities without their estates’ consent. OpenAI later said it would give rights holders more granular controls.
Meta, in a blog post, described Muse Image as a “creative partner that knows your world, making it easy to turn your ideas into high-quality visuals you can download and share anywhere.” In a promotional video, the company showed examples like adding a friend into a band photo or conceptualizing furniture for a garage. Meta said the AI-generated images are watermarked and users can report problematic ones.
“We built Muse Image with strong controls and safety guardrails from day one,” Meta said in a statement. “Private accounts and those belonging to users under 18 are automatically excluded and adult users with public accounts can opt out with just a couple clicks. We will take action against any content that violates our Community Standards.”
Users can opt out by going to settings, selecting “sharing and reuse” and turning off the option that allows others to create with and reuse their content.
Meta said it has protections to prevent Muse Image from making content that violates its policies, including violent, sexual or defamatory images.
The launch fits a familiar Silicon Valley pattern — ship products first, ask for forgiveness later. Here, that means Meta opening up the vast trove of content already on its platform to power a new AI tool.
“They leverage their scale to make it easy to use the tools as well as to scale out the content that is available,” said Mickey Maher, chief business officer at Vermillio, which tracks people’s digital likenesses and intellectual property. “It’s not unique to this Meta product.”
Others said opt-out should be the default.
“This dark pattern of AI overreach, where essentially it’s a free-for-all when it comes to your content information, is something that nobody actually wants,” said Lori Fena, former chair and executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founder of New York-based Personal Digital Spaces.” What we need in this new AI ecosystem is the ability to create trust and to have some sort of understanding and authenticity, and this does exactly the opposite.”
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