What you need to know
- Instagram has been spotted flagging a photo that was created using generative AI.
- This new feature takes the form of a new experimental label, which appears for users who may come across AI-generated content on the app.
- Meta hopes that the new label will make it easier for users to identify content that was not created by humans.
In the near future, Instagram will start labeling posts that were created with generative AI. This means you’ll be able to tell if a photo or video was made by a computer, not a human.
The upcoming feature has been spotted by developer and reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who shared a screenshot of a new transparency label via Twitter. The label indicates when a post was generated by AI in an effort to make it clear to users what type of content they’ve encountered.
#Instagram is working to label the contents created or modified by #AI in order to be identified more easily 👀 pic.twitter.com/bHvvYuDpQrJuly 30, 2023
In the screenshot above, a photo is being flagged as “generated by Meta AI.” The label also notes that AI content “is typically labeled so that it can be easily identified.”
It is unclear how widespread the test is, and Meta has yet to respond to Android Central’s request for comment. When and if the new label becomes public, the new feature will make it easier to flag AI-generated content.
Instagram is only one of a few tech giants dabbling in generative AI experiments, with Google and Microsoft also churning out their own generative AI capabilities. For its part, Meta recently unveiled Llama 2, its own AI model that’s built in collaboration with Microsoft. The open-source model lets developers build chatbots and image generators.
The latest experiment makes perfect sense in light of Meta’s recent demonstrations of generative AI tools coming to its consumer apps, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. They include AI chatbots, AI stickers, and photo-editing tools for Instagram Stories.
Given the growing demand for AI chatbots, generative AI is gaining increasing attention and investment. However, there are some concerns about its reliability and the impact it could have on jobs.
The new label could help people feel more confident about what they’re seeing on Instagram. If they know that a post was created with AI, they can decide for themselves whether or not they want to believe it.