Instagram Tightens Rules on AI-Generated 'Human' Accounts
Instagram has begun tightening its regulations regarding accounts that use profiles featuring human figures created by artificial intelligence (AI). The Meta-owned social media platform will limit the reach of accounts that use AI-generated figures as their profile photos.
This policy was announced by Instagram in late August, alongside a rebranding of labels for AI-based profiles. The label previously known as “AI creator” has now been changed to “AI-generated profile.”
Instagram stated that this name change was implemented to ensure users can more easily understand that the figures displayed in a profile are created or largely generated using AI. Under these new rules, creators who fail to correctly label profiles featuring AI-generated figures may experience a reduction in their account’s reach.
However, these rules do not apply to all forms of AI usage. Instagram emphasised that creators who only utilise AI to edit photos, refine captions, create graphics, or perform other creative adjustments are not required to use the “AI-generated profile” label. This change follows complaints regarding the rise of accounts that appear to belong to real people, but are actually entirely composed of AI-generated figures.
“As the adoption of AI in content creation becomes increasingly massive, we have received complaints from users regarding the prevalence of profiles that look like humans but are actually AI,” Instagram stated, as reported by TechCrunch.
This policy emerges amidst the growing number of AI influencers across various social media platforms. In July 202/6, The New York Times reported finding hundreds of AI-generated doctors, health figures, and fitness personalities on social media, used to promote supplements or deliver health claims to users.
The rule change also follows criticism Instagram faced regarding an AI feature that allowed users to create images using the likeness of others. Users objected because their public content on Instagram could be used without explicit consent, leading Meta to subsequently remove the feature.