Meta inserts 'Made with AI' labels to genuine photographs on Instagram, sparking outrage

At a time when it's becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish AI-generated images from original images, Meta's AI tagger can make things even more complicated.Some users have accused the tech giant of falsely labeling their posts as "AI-generated" even though the images are not AI-generated. For example, a photo of a basketball player taken by former White House photographer Pete Souza was labeled "artificial intelligence" on Instagram. "Unlike my previous post, I worked on this video a few days after the game.Meta, meta ai, meta ai labelling, meta made with ai, instagram, instagram made with ai label Currently, Meta uses a two-pronged approach to identify and label content generated by artificial intelligence. (Image source: Reuters)

At a time when it’s increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI-generated images and original images, Meta’s AI tagging program could make things even more complicated. According to a TechCrunch report, several users have accused the tech giant of wrongly tagging their posts with the “Made with AI” label, despite the fact that the images were not generated with the help of AI.For example, a photo of a basketball player taken by former White House photographer Pete Souza was tagged on Instagram as "Made with Artificial Intelligence." "Unlike my previous posts, this movie was processed a few days after the game. I don't understand why Instagram is using "Made with AI" in my post. There is no AI with my photos, ”Souza succeeded in the signature.

In one case, the Instagram user shared how their grandparents' photo wore a AI mark, while another user said the actual photo of the photo in the costume was a controversial roof. Closer home, several posts by the official Kolkata Knight Riders handle have been marked with ‘Made with AI’, including a recent photo of the cricket team winning the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL).“We are taking into account recent feedback and continue to evaluate our approach so that our labels reflect the amount of AI used in an image. We rely on industry standard metrics that other companies incorporate into content from their tools, so we are actively working with these companies to refine the process so that our tagging approach meets our intent,” a Meta spokesperson told Indianexpress.com. Meta did not directly say whether it plans to temporarily suspend the AI ​​tagging feature on its platforms. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in April, Meta announced that it would flag AI-generated content and manipulated media on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. However, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company's initiative still has a long way to go. The posts may have been mislabeled as AI-generated and only appeared on mobile view. Not only that, AI tagging is inconsistent across platforms as the same IPL image has no tags on Facebook. In addition to marking original images as AI-generated, Meta also marks those that may have been edited using AI features as Adobe-generated fills. According to reports, Meta can detect even small changes in an image using such AI features, marking it as AI-generated. How does Meta identify and label AI-generated content?

Currently, Meta has adopted a two-pronged approach to identifying and tagging AI-generated content. First, it requires users to mark realistic videos or realistic sounds generated or changed. This may include video clips that showed a group of people walking in the outdoor market, or a backup roll with a real AI. Meta warns that users may be penalized if they do not flag such content.

However, these labeling requirements do not apply to users who post unrealistic AI-generated content, such as cartoon-generated videos of outdoor scenes.