Posts, Reels and profile photos from users of public Instagram accounts can by default be used for other people's artificial intelligence (AI) image generation.

Business Insider reported on July 8 local time that Meta unveiled an AI model called Muse Image that lets users tag another person's account in a prompt and create images based on public Instagram posts.

The key is that public accounts are set to consent by default. Unless a user changes settings, other users can reuse that account's posts, Reels and profile photos for AI image generation. Being a public account, rather than a private one, makes it eligible for use.

Blocking can be done only within the Instagram app. Users must go to the settings menu's "Sharing and Reuse" section and turn off settings for posts and Reels separately. The fact that controls are available only inside the app, not on the web or through other routes, is also cited as an inconvenience for users.

The limits are clear. Instagram says on its help page that it does not send separate notifications even if a user's content is used by others. It also says AI images already generated using user content are not deleted. Turning the feature off later does not apply retroactively to results created in the past.

Meta is positioning the feature as one pillar of strengthening its generative AI competitiveness. Muse Image embeds image generation directly within Instagram's base of billions of users. The approach is closer to a strategy of making AI image generation an everyday feature within the existing social platform rather than steering users to a separate service.

At the same time, controversy over Meta's privacy practices could grow again. Meta has faced multiple investigations over how it handles corporate and user data, and it has been criticised for a structure in which public posts are used by default to train AI models and users must opt out themselves. The same controversy is repeating this time because the default is permission and users exit after the fact.

Privacy advocacy groups have said such policies leave users with too little control over how their content is reused. As Meta speeds up in the generative AI race, debate is also expected to continue over consent methods, notification procedures and standards for handling existing results.