Meta has quietly pulled a dirty trick on Instagram, where they're now using your photos for AI-generated content. That basically means anyone can use your photos to create AI images depicting you. The risk of abuse is obviously huge (not least with deepfakes), but that seems to be a secondary concern for Meta.
This feature has been enabled without asking users for their consent, and if you don't want it, you have to actively opt out rather than the other way, which would otherwise be the reasonable approach. Now, the union for American entertainers and actors, SAG-AFTRA, has also taken notice of this and is offering advice on how to prevent Meta from using your photos for AI-related purposes.
Fortunately, it's easy to opt out and it only takes about 30 seconds.
Here's how to do it:
Open Instagram and tap your profile (bottom right).
Tap the three lines (☰) in the top right corner.
Scroll down and select "Sharing and reuse" (if you're using the English version).
Look for the option: "Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta"
Turn off both toggles for posts and Reels - done!
If you do this, Meta can no longer let others use your photos and images to generate AI-generated images. Unfortunately, this setting doesn't affect images that have already been created, only future ones, so hurry up.
<social>https://www.threads.com/@sagaftra/post/Dal_f2uIAax</social>