Meta has pulled back one of the touchiest parts of its new AI image tool: a feature that let people tag public Instagram accounts to help generate images.
The company said in a July 10 update that the option is “no longer available” after feedback from users. Meta had introduced the feature earlier in the week as part of Muse Image, its first image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs.
“Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way,” Meta said. “We’ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available.”
The removed tool would have allowed users in the Meta AI app to @-mention Instagram accounts and pull public profile imagery into AI creations. Meta had framed it as a way to build invitations, collaboration mockups and personalized graphics, with an opt-out setting for users who did not want their content referenced.
But the rollback changes the launch story around Muse Image, which is still being pushed across Meta’s apps. The company said the model is available in Meta AI and can create visuals that users can download or share to chats, stories or feeds.
Meta also said Muse Image powers more than 30 AI effects for Instagram Stories and image generation in direct chats with Meta AI on WhatsApp, starting in limited countries.
The company is still promoting presets that can restore old photos, try out hairstyles, make claymation-style portraits or turn people into 16-bit game characters. The Instagram tagging feature, though, is gone.
“Images are just the beginning,” Meta said.
