Instagram is revising its artificial intelligence transparency labels for accounts to better align with user expectations around AI disclosures. The change is designed to ensure that people know when they’re engaging with non-human entities in the app.
In order to address potential confusion, Instagram is renaming its “AI creator” account labels, which were added in May, to “AI generated profile” labels instead. The update will also include a description noting that the images posted by the account may feature AI-generated characters.
That will make it easier for IG users to see whether a profile is run by a human, or is just posting AI-generated content.
As explained by Instagram: “As generative AI becomes a bigger part of how people create, we’ve heard that people don’t like seeing a profile that seems human, only to find out later that the person featured is AI-generated. They want to know when a profile features an AI-generated person.”
In other words, Instagram wants to ensure that fewer people are being duped by AI-generated characters in the app. In addition, Instagram said that it will limit the reach of profiles that feature an AI-generated person but do not add this label.
The update reflects a growing backlash against AI-generated content and the intrusion of AI bots.
This has always seemed likely to be a problem, since a key trait of social media is the social element. Social platforms were built on enabling people to share their thoughts and ideas with other actual humans, and were not designed as a place to review the latest outputs from machines.
In some ways, AI tools are redefining the concept of what social actually means in this sense, since more people are now socializing with AI bots. But on social media platforms at least, there has been significant pushback against the influx of AI bots.
The fact that Meta has had to take a step back on this front may also be a blow for the company’s larger AI push.
In late 2024, reports emerged that Meta was planning to unleash a range of AI bot personas in its apps, which would interact and engage as if they were human-run accounts. That concept was designed to drive more human activity in its apps, with the idea being that people would get more replies to their posts and more post likes, and would subsequently feel like they were being seen and heard more.
Meta didn’t share additional information on this plan, but it doesn’t appear that the company moved ahead with it, amid broader criticism of AI content and profiles on other apps.
That leads to this update. Meta is now looking to tag AI-generated accounts more clearly and reduce the reach of AI bot profiles that don’t disclose themselves as such.
It seems like a positive step, which should provide more clarity around AI-generated content, while also giving users more insight into who and what they’re engaging with.
