Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has responded to concerns over its new Muse AI image generation tool, saying it was built with ‘strong controls and safety guardrails’ from the beginning. The statement comes after the Central Government said it will review the new AI tool under the existing legal framework.
In a statement shared with Times Now Tech, a Meta spokesperson said that private Instagram accounts and accounts belonging to users under the age of 18 are automatically excluded from Muse Image.
“We built Muse Image with strong controls and safety guardrails from day one. Private accounts and those belonging to users under 18 are automatically excluded and adult users with public accounts can opt out with just a couple clicks. We will take action against any content that violates our Community Standards,” the Meta spokesperson said.
The response comes after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) confirmed that it is examining Meta’s latest AI-powered image generation tool.
Speaking on Thursday, IT Secretary S Krishnan said: “We will have to look at it with reference to the legal framework, and whether it is in accordance with the legal framework or not. We will examine the representations we receive.”
The government’s review comes after concerns were raised about how AI tools use public photos available online.
Muse Image lets users generate AI images using text prompts, but the feature has raised questions about privacy, user consent and the possible misuse of public profile pictures.
However, according to Meta, teen users are also not allowed to tag or reference other accounts while using the feature. Also, users can also stop others from using their public content for AI image generation. This can be done by turning off the “Allow people to reuse your content” option under Settings > Sharing and reuse.
But tech experts, on the other hand, have raised serious concerns about the feature.
Prabhu Ram, VP-Industry Research Group, CyberMedia Research (CMR) said that Meta’s move fundamentally changes the meaning of a public profile. Now, it can also mean becoming training material and creative input for AI-generated content built on a person’s likeness.
He stressed that the risks are especially serious for creators and influencers, whose face, identity, and persona are core to their commercial value.
“If that likeness can be freely reused or reimagined, it creates clear exposure to impersonation, fake endorsements, reputational harm, and brand dilution, with direct financial and legal consequences,” Ram said.
According to Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, this is a big change because it changes what having a public Instagram account means.
He said that earlier, having a public account mainly meant more people could see a user’s posts. However, with the new feature, it also means strangers can use that person’s face to generate AI images without their consent.
And, according to him, this is a major concern, especially for influencers and creators who depend on public accounts for their work.
“Legally, if a business uses one of these AI-generated images in an ad and it accidentally includes someone’s face, that business (and not Meta) is likely to face the lawsuits or backlash,” he stressed.