Meta just launched a shiny new AI image tool, and true to form, it also launched a mini controversy to go with it — free of charge, no download required. Turns out "your face, used by an AI, unless you specifically say otherwise" is not a pitch that lands great with the people whose faces are literally their careers.

Muse Image Arrives, Opt-Out Setting Included

Meta Superintelligence Labs unveiled Muse Image this week, its most advanced in-house image-generation model, built to compete with Google's Gemini and other players in the increasingly crowded AI-image arena. It supports faithful prompt-following, precise editing, and multi-reference composition, and it's rolling into Meta AI, Instagram Stories, and WhatsApp.

Here's the wrinkle: Meta reportedly set all public Instagram profiles to opt-out status by default, meaning a user's likeness can be pulled into the tool's outputs unless they actively go dig up the setting and switch it off. Opt-in would have meant nobody's face is touched until they say yes. Meta chose the other one.

When Your Face Is Also Your Business Model

Enter CAA, the talent agency that represents no shortage of famous faces, which released a statement that pulled zero punches: "No one's name, image, likeness, voice, or creative work should be used by any third party, including AI models, without clear, documented consent." That's a polite way of saying "flip the switch, Meta, before our lawyers flip it for you."

This isn't a new playbook, either — it's basically the same script OpenAI ran with Sora, which got flooded with unauthorized celebrity likenesses before scrambling to pivot to an opt-in model. The pattern is becoming predictable: ship the flashy default, wait for the backlash, quietly walk it back a few weeks later. For regular users without a CAA on retainer, the concerning part is that this same default almost certainly applies to your public profile too, not just the famous ones.

Building genuinely impressive AI image tools is hard. Remembering that consent isn't a checkbox you bury in settings? Apparently even harder.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter