If you have a public Instagram profile, there’s a good chance your photos can now be used by anyone to generate AI images of you – without your knowledge or permission, and without Meta notifying you when it happens. Here’s what’s going on, and the simple setting you’ll want to check today.

What’s actually happening

Meta this week launched Muse Image, a new AI image generator built into the Meta AI app, Instagram and WhatsApp, with a video version reportedly on the way. The tool lets anyone type a text prompt to generate images – but its most controversial feature is that users can simply “@ mention” another person’s public Instagram username, and the AI will pull from that person’s public photos to generate a new image based on their likeness.

In practice, this means that if your Instagram account is public, someone you’ve never met could type your username into a prompt and have Meta’s AI generate an image using your face and photos – all without you ever being told it happened.

Why this matters, especially for older Australians

Privacy and security researchers have raised real concerns that go beyond simple novelty. Cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes points out that public photos have already been used by scammers to create convincing fake identities and deepfakes, and warns that a built-in, easy-to-use tool for generating realistic AI images from public profiles lowers the bar for creating images that could be used for impersonation or fraud.

Privacy advocacy group Privacy International also weighed in, telling the BBC the feature reflects a troubling trend of tech companies treating people’s personal photos as free material to be reused without genuine permission.

Even Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency, representing stars including Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise, has publicly called on Meta to reverse its approach, arguing that no one’s likeness should be used by AI tools without clear, upfront consent – and that the default setting should protect people automatically, rather than requiring them to opt out after the fact.

The setting doesn’t undo what’s already been made

One important catch: turning this setting off only stops new images being generated from your profile going forward. Any AI images already created using your photos before you switch it off will remain in circulation regardless. The only way to fully prevent your public photos being used at all is to switch your Instagram account to private.

How to opt out

If you’d rather not have your photos used this way, here’s how to turn it off:

Open the Instagram app and go to your profile

Tap the menu icon (three lines) in the top right corner

Look for “Sharing and reuse” and tap on it

Turn off the toggles for “Allow people to create with and reuse your content” and “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta”

You may not see both options depending on your app version, as the rollout is reportedly still happening gradually. You can also manage this on a post-by-post basis through the “Options” menu on individual posts.

According to Meta’s own content reuse guidelines, this setting is switched on by default for all public profiles — meaning unless you actively turn it off, your public content can be used. Private accounts and users under 18 are excluded automatically and don’t need to do anything.

Whether or not you ever plan to use Meta’s new AI tools yourself, it’s worth taking two minutes to check this setting if you have a public Instagram profile — particularly given how easily photos of yourself, or even photos featuring grandchildren and other family members, could be pulled into someone else’s AI creation without your say-so.