sharesShare articleThis headline may read like one of those fake warnings people share every few months or so – but this time it’s real.Meta has introduced a new artificial intelligence feature called Muse Image, which allows anyone to use pictures and video from any public profile, including prominent Australian politicians and other public figures.AI-GENERATED IMAGE: Muse Image is also coming to WhatsApp. Meta/AI-GENERATEDAdvertisementAustralian Independent MP Allegra Spender is just one person outraged that the setting is on by default for anyone with a public account – meaning they have to know about the switch and then dive into settings to fix it.“I just heard about Meta’s new AI image generation tool, and I’m really worried about it,” she said, in a video posted to social media on Thursday night.“This means that Meta automatically opts in for your public Instagram photos to be used for AI generation by anyone. The first thing I did was opt out.”It sounds like either dramatic exaggeration or the sort of thing you see in a hysterical post every time one of these social media companies change their terms of service. But this time it’s completely true.“You can also @-mention Instagram accounts in the Meta AI app to bring specific Instagram profiles right into your images,” Meta said in its announcement of the product.“Whether you want to design a custom event invitation, mock up a collaborative creative concept, or generate a personalised graphic, tagging a username lets Meta AI use public photos to build a visual that’s ready to post.”The company stressed users could control how their content could be used for AI creation and turn it off at any time.View post on Instagram AdvertisementHow to turn off Instagram’s new Muse Image AI toolBut turning the feature on for millions of users by default means people need to first hear about the change and then dig into settings to fix it. Here’s how:Go to your Instagram profile on the app or website (tap on the bottom right picture of you, not just the home feed)Tap on the three lines at the top right then scroll down in to the How others can interact with you section and tap Sharing and reuseTurn off Allow people to create with and reuse your content (and any other settings you don’t want on)This settings menu actually shows that the permissions you automatically granted other Instagram users were even broader than Meta mentioned in its announcement of the product.AdvertisementAdvertisement“When these are on, anyone can create with all or part of your posts and reels in remixes, sequences, templates or stickers and download your content as part of their post or reel,” the app says.“They can also save and use any stickers you shared in a reel or story.”Tap on the three lines at the top right then scroll down in to the How others can interact with you section and tap Sharing and reuse. Instagram/screenshotChange generates outcryAdvertisementTech justice non-profit Foxglove’s advocacy director Donald Campbell told the BBC it was “an obvious recipe for disaster”.“We’ve already seen a catalogue of harms from non-consensual AI-altered images on social platforms just in the past year,” he said.“It is hard to see why Mark Zuckerberg thinks facilitating yet more of this creepy image manipulation is a good idea.”The platform can easily be used to make an image of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Pauline Hanson whispering together in a Melbourne cafe.AdvertisementAdvertisementAt this stage it doesn’t seem to be able to directly edit individual posts or reels but it was easy to recreate Albanese’s latest post with Indian PM Narendra Modi by taking a screenshot of the reel and tagging his account, and then edit the newly generated image freely.AI-GENERATED IMAGE: A fake image of Anthony Albanese and Pauline Hanson in a cafe generated by Meta AI. Meta AI/AI-GENERATEDThe tool wouldn’t allow adding items such as a bag of cash or a manilla folder that “could be interpreted as false or defamatory about identifiable people” but it happily added a USB stick and a notebook.Spender’s account, notably, couldn’t be used with the new tool, although it was still easy to generate images of her that are presumably based off photos published in news articles and other sources.AdvertisementOf course, while some AI platforms block generation of some prominent figures, many will happily generate images of them without resorting to their social media profiles.But the change is potentially much greater for less media-exposed people with public profiles because Meta’s model suddenly has a lot more to work with.Meta says you can’t mention accounts belonging to under-18s, nor can they use the tool to reference other accounts.AI-GENERATED IMAGE: An image generated using Meta’s Muse Image tool and supplied by Meta. Meta/AI-GENERATEDAdvertisementAdvertisement“We built Muse Image with strong controls and safety guardrails from day one,” a spokesperson said.“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.”The tool is currently available on the Meta AI app and website, as well as Instagram Stories in the US and WhatsApp in some countries.AdvertisementMeta called the product, the first developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs, its “most advanced image generation model yet”.“It follows instructions faithfully, edits with precision, composes from multiple references, and draws on Instagram for social context,” the company said.“It also brings agentic tool use capabilities and integrates with Muse Spark. Muse Video, built on the same pretraining base, delivers exceptional visual fidelity with native audio support.”- Reported with reutersContact usrightArrowShare a tip-off, video or photo with usPenny and her family were delivered a $140,000 blow after Sydney house prices took a diveFriends mourn death of looksmaxxer Connor Murphy in ThailandPolice investigate regional death senator says was due to Telstra outageMatt Damon went to Aussie mate for help with The Odyssey role